March’s Pick of the Month is “Midnight in Siberia”
David Greene, author of the bestselling Midnight in Siberia, is best known to WITF supporters as the co-host of NPR’s Morning Edition. He is also NPR’s former Moscow bureau chief and has spent more than a decade covering politics and events from the White House and abroad.
In 2013, Greene returned to Russia and traveled along the Trans-Siberian Railway, a 6,000-mile cross-country trip from Moscow to the Pacific port of Vladivostok, in order to better understand the people and politics of this vast, proud, and seemingly inscrutable nation in the post-Cold War era. For Greene, Russia and her people are “hard yet poetic, perplexing yet entertaining.”
Midnight in Siberia is Greene’s story of that journey, far from the ostentatious wealth and political crackdowns of Moscow under the rule of Vladimir Putin, into the heart of Russia. He tells the story of ordinary Russians and their experiences with growing prosperity and political expression, contrasted with widespread corruption and stark inequality. His fellow train travelers, as well as residents of stopover towns across Siberia, offer us a better understanding of this nation that is such an important partner for the U.S. on numerous strategic issues, while it serves as our country’s primary opponent on others. Even successful business owners struggle with heavy layers of corrupt bureaucracy and clearly hold decidedly mixed feelings about their government and their nation’s future. But the reader also joins Greene on a joyous evening with a group of babushkas who made international headlines as runners-up at the Eurovision singing competition, performing everything from their traditional folk songs to Beatles covers.
Midnight in Siberia is a lively travel narrative filled with humor, adventure, and insight. It opens a window onto that country’s complicated relationship with democracy and offers a rare look into the soul of twenty-first-century Russia.
– Aaron’s Books
Book Signing at the WITF Public Media Center, Monday, March 9th at 7PM.
Space is limited. Please RSVP for this event.
Join David Greene, host of NPR’s Morning Edition and Author of Midnight in Siberia, for a Book Signing at the WITF Public Media Center, Monday, March 9th at 7PM.
Far away from the trendy cafés, designer boutiques, and political protests and crackdowns in Moscow, the real Russia exists.
Midnight in Siberia chronicles David Greene’s journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway, a 6,000-mile cross-country trip from Moscow to the Pacific port of Vladivostok. In quadruple-bunked cabins and stopover towns sprinkled across the country’s snowy landscape, Greene speaks with ordinary Russians about how their lives have changed in the post-Soviet years.
This event is free and open to the public. Copies of Midnight in Siberia will be available for purchase at the event, provided by our partners at Aaron’s Books in Lititz. If you have any questions, please call 717-704-3000.
Book signing with NPR’s David Greene
Monday, March 9, 2015, 7:00pm
at the
WITF Public Media Center
4801 Lindle Road
Harrisburg, PA 17111
Space is limited. Please RSVP for this event.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
