The Shaman's Coat: A Native History of Siberia Hardcover – 25 April 2002

I am a big fan of Anna Reid's writing style as it is VERY easy to follow.Pros:- Very easy to read.- Very informative about the history of the Khanti, the Buryats, the Tuvans, the Sakha, The Ainu, The Nivkh, The Uilta and the Chukchi.- Has a map for regular clarification (trust me, you will need to. Places are more easterly than you may think.- Offers modern perspectives and reminds us that these people are still here; living and breathing in modern Russia.Cons:- Due to the scale of the book some things are summarised briefly, such at the reasons behind conflict between Siberian groups.- Again, glosses over the reasons behind certain administrative changes in Soviet times.Summary: This book is a fantastic point of reference for anyone interested in the largest Siberian ethnic groups as well as a good starting place for anyone looking to find out more about the colonisation of Siberia.

For anyone interested in the fascinating history of Siberia from the 16th - 21st century and the varied indigenous peoples who call it home, you won't find a better book than this. Also really interesting on the region's traditional religion - shamanism.

Thanks, good condition and genuine service.

I read a book by this author which took us on an historic and geographic history of Ukraine, and it was a journey I thoroughly enjoyed. So I looked out another book by her, this one on a history of Siberia. Siberia is, as the author acknowledges, a place which conjures up for most (Western) people an image of snow, cold, wolves howling in the endless night. Anyway, chilly and forbidding. And while there are elements of that which ring true, there is a lot more to this enormous area of the planet than just the images of our imagination.Siberia is such a huge area that if you took the whole of the USA, Alaska, and all of Europe (bar Russia) and put it over the area of Siberia, it would be about the same size. So, plenty of land. And for many centuries there have been a wide diversity of peoples who have made Siberia their home, many of them undisturbed until modern times (by which I mean say after 1600) by anyone from outside their own regions.The author, a journalist who lived in the Ukraine from 1993 to 1995, and who holds a master’s degree in Russian history and reform economics offers a unique and entertaining viewpoint on a journey through parts of Siberia, largely heading from West (Moscow) to East – following somewhat the Trans-Siberian Railway which heads across towards Japan on the East coast, skirting the northern boundaries of Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia. The author then heads north-east through Sakhalin up to Chokotka, as far away from Moscow as it is possible to get while remaining on Russian soil (a nine hour flight).Obviously within the confines of a journey like this, and within a printed medium of a single volume book this is not a comprehensive history of Siberia as a whole, or its peoples and cultures. What this book offers in seven chapters is a look at some of those peoples who have, over the centuries made Siberia their home. Each chapter offers some of the history of the peoples and their local regions, and then shows what current (2002, when the book was first published) life is like as it is experienced by the people the author meets. She offers visual glimpses into this unique landscape, and into the peoples who she meets – those of the elusive ‘Siberians’, the Khant, Buryat, Tuvans, Sakha, Ainu, Nivkh, Uilta and the Chukchi. Their interactions with Russia, China (under the Manchu regimes), and Europe and the wider world are fascinating, and the author has succeeded admirably in bringing into our lives (for me, on the other side of the world and many thousands of miles distant) a glimpse of the realm of our imagination, Sibera as it can truly be experienced. The theme which the author has used to link all these journeys together is the history of the Shaman, an iconic figure of Siberian history. Does Shamanism still exist amongst the Siberian peoples – can it exist, in cultures battered by Russian and other influences? Definitely recommended, as is the author’s book on Ukraine – Borderland. Highly enjoyable reads, both entertaining and informative.

For a region that covers a twelfth of the world's surface, we know surprisingly little about Siberia. It encompasses all Russia east of the Urals yet is so sparsely populated that it has made little impact on the world. Perhaps the topic of this book sounds too specialised to be interesting to the casual reader, but the diverse peoples involved and the author's fluent style make for a fascinating read.'The Shaman's Coat' tells the story of this region since it became part of the Russian empire some 400 years ago. Despite common perception as a land of barren tundra, Siberia was conquered for the furs valued by the nobility in Moscow and the West. It was then discovered to be rich in resources, particularly petrol and gold, and under Stalin the gulag system of labour camps was set up to exploit this abundance. Reid discusses the impact of Soviet socialism and the breakdown of the regime on the indigenous Siberians, particularly on the island of Sakhalin just north of Japan. This island has yo-yo'd between Russian and Japanese control for centuries, much to the detriment of the native peoples who either moved to Japan in 1946 or have disappeared.The contrast inherent in such a vast land is not ignored. The experiences of the Buryat around Lake Baikal near Mongolia are kept separate but still compared to those of say the northern Chukchi. Reid's separation of the native as opposed to incoming 'Siberiyaki' experiences is in contrast to the Soviets' partial sucess in assimilating every culture into a unified Russia. The people she interviews are almost uniformly shocked that someone, let alone a Westerner, has any interest in their lives and culture.This book is definitely essential reading for anyone planning to travel in Siberia, perhaps on the famous Trans-Siberian railway. I found it an interesting contrast to the normal Russian history I've been studying - history as written by the losers is often a very different story. It isn't an academic text for an in-depth look at the social history or anthropology of the region, but in providing an overview it cannot seriously be criticised. A couple more maps might have been useful, otherwise I wholeheartedly recommmend it.