Book of the Month: Murderers in Mausoleums, by Jeffrey Tayler
As a new world order slowly begins to take shape around the globe, the two Communist colossi—Russia and China—are poised to play pivotal roles. Western media report routinely on events and attitudes in these countries' major cities, but what of the vast, resource-rich, and tradition-bound territories and peoples between them? This sprawling region, the largest landmass on the planet, constitutes a perilous blank in the average Westerner's map of the world. In his riveting new book, Murderers in Mausoleums: Riding the Back Roads of Empire Between Moscow and Beijing, Jeffrey Tayler ventures from Red Square to Tiananmen Square to try to fill in that blank.
Setting off in the summer of 2006, Tayler starts his 7,200-mile, three-month odyssey in Moscow, former capital of the U.S.S.R., whose ghostly presence still dominates the history and hopes of many in this region. As he forays into the Caucasus Mountains and then to the Caspian Sea, hard and sometimes surprising truths emerge: Ancient ethnic and religious divisions still reign, with neighboring peoples stubbornly clinging to their heritage and tribal individuality, and deeply suspicious of their neighbors; Vladimir Putin is a hero to many, respected for striving to regain Russia's dignity and respect; and even the murderous historical overlords of these territories, from Genghis Khan to Joseph Stalin, are revered for the power they wielded and the authority they imposed. In these sere, sun-blasted steppes, desert-surrounded cities, and hardscrabble mountains, Tayler discovers, democracy and human rights are not the self-evident ideals Westerners might assume them to be.
Journeying from Russia to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and China, through an alphabet stew of peoples—Ossetians, Chechens, Balkars, Ingush, Kazakhs, Cossacks, Dungans, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Uygurs—Tayler proves himself an engaging and enlightening guide, well versed in the complex histories and cultural traditions of the region, and sufficiently fluent in Russian, Turkish, and Mandarin that he can carry on intricate—and often alcohol-fueled—conversations. In addition to being an assiduous reporter and keen observer, Tayler is also an openhearted traveler, and his intimate encounters with taxi drivers, guides, train companions, and sundry friends of friends who have agreed to show him around their town weave a rich human tapestry that raises this narrative to travel writing of the first order.
At once travelogue and textbook, Tayler's illuminating, in-depth account should be required reading for the State Department and the Pentagon, as well as anyone interested in the emerging map of the Russo-Chinese world.
