Siberia is the stuff of legend. This remote region of Russia was hidden behind the iron curtain for years and now remains removed from the rest of society due to harsh environmental conditions. It boasts Oymyakon, the coldest city in the world with an average (yes, average) temperature of minus 50 C!

Back in late 1960s, when Farley Mowat was in his 40s, he took two tours of Siberia. Due to the success of his earlier books, he was granted access to a region that few Westerners received. He chronicled these trips in Sibur: My Discovery of Siberia.

Sibur has that quality that marks the best of Mowat’s writing—it’s compulsively readable. He can spin a gripping story from a trip to the supermarket. This work is especially interesting now as a historical piece, reflecting the attitudes and prejudices of the day.

Mowat has always had an affinity to the North. Like two of his famous works on the Canadian North, People of the Deer and The Desperate People, Mowat describes the local culture and environment with generosity and humour. He turns his pen with vitriol to those who would despoil the land and its peoples.

While it will not win any awards for political correctness, Sibir is a fascinating slice of late 1960s social commentary on a still remote land.

Mowat, Farley. Sibir: My Discovery of Siberia. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1990.