Russia Seen Deeply

n 1890, Thomas Stevens, an American journalist, set off from Moscow for the Crimea, riding a horse he had purchased from a traveling Wild West show. Earlier, he had written a book about his travels in East Africa, and a second volume with the marvelous title Around the World on a Bicycle. Little should have surprised this experienced traveler as he made his way through Southern Russia and the Ukraine. Yet he records his surprise as he encountered conflict, suspicion, xenophobia and c...