Running with reindeer

de Roger Took

"After the Civil War of 1918-20 the Bolsheviks' development of Russia's far north-west corner - involving forced collectivization, land clearances, slave labour and the suppression of the indigenous Lapps (Saami) - was so ruthless that the region's name could not be spoken without embarrassment. Renamed Murmansk oblast, Russian Lapland is now often referred to as the Kola Peninsula." "After the collapse of communism, Roger Took spent much of the decade living in Russian Lapland and was perhaps the first foreigner since 1910 to explore it extensively. In Running with Reindeer he describes not only the Soviet mining towns and the great Arctic port of Murmansk - home to the nuclear Northern Fleet - but also the 'lost' areas, long closed to Russians and foreigners alike. Travelling across tundra and taiga, through wetlands and forests, and in all seasons, he finds a pristine wilderness full of wildlife and rivers teeming with fish." "He follows the lives of Saami families struggling to retain their traditions of herding and hunting; pioneer villagers descended from medieval Novgorod fur-traders and fishermen and now coping with the new economy; and men and women originally sent north to mine Russian Lapland's fabulous mineral wealth but now unemployed and stranded. And as nuclear submarines rot and old industries crumble, he observes how New Russian biznes is creating wealth in its own way."--Jacket.