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The Red Line: A Railway Journey Through the Cold War Kindle Edition

by Christopher Knowles (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 out of 5 stars 7
See all formats and editions
The Red Line is the story of a train journey from London to Hong Kong. It is set in 1981, the year Christopher made the first of twenty-four such journeys as a tour guide, when the Cold War was still very much a fact of life. Although China appeared to be on the brink of significant change, no one could know for certain; Poland was stirring but the prospect of change in the USSR and its other allies seemed remote. This made a journey by train across that landscape particularly fascinating, because by using standard, scheduled services that together created one of the longest possible railway routes, one was necessarily immersed in the various countries in ways that otherwise would have been impossible. Equally fascinating were the reactions of Western travelers to finding themselves incarcerated for weeks on end in the eccentric world behind the Iron Curtain.In order to give the journey some coherence, the most memorable events over those years have been condensed into a single journey and the most notable personalities, plucked from various times and places, have been thrown together. To emphasize the fact that these events took place in the recent past, and to be able to show how extraordinarily quickly the world has changed in the few intervening years, the story is told by a narrator. Everything that occurs is true, although some circumstances have been slightly adapted for the sake of fluency and names of individuals have been changed.
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  1. Print length
    325 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Pen & Sword Transport
  5. Publication date
    April 30, 2017
  6. File size
    12139 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"It's a fascinating, not-at-all relevant document of travel in a time of change, hope, mistrust and tension."
Wanderlust June 2017

About the Author

When he was nineteen, Christopher Knowles lived in Italy and went on to study Italian. He went on to lead tour groups to Eastern Europe, Russia and China, during the Cold War period. His book, The Red Line, is an account of his fascinating travels in some of the worlds most politically hostile and totalitarian countries, in the last years of the communist period. The account follows the journeys taken and the numerous problems while travelling through the Iron and Bamboo curtain. Christopher Knowles has written a number of travel guides, on city's in Eastern Europe and the Far East. He currently writes for an house travel magazine.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07195CBQS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pen & Sword Transport (April 30, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 30, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 12139 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 325 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 out of 5 stars 7

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
7 global ratings

Top review from the United States

WILLIAM P. BOYLE
5.0 out of 5 stars GOOD READ
Reviewed in the United States on October 16, 2019
Verified Purchase
Nothing like a Cold War rail trip.
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Top reviews from other countries

S. Ahmad
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've ever read & I wouldn't hesitate to read it a second time.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 14, 2021
Verified Purchase
The author, a former tour guide, led tour groups across Eastern Europe, Russia and China, over a period of years. This edition, published in 2017, is a compilation of all his previous visits - to make one continuous 'travelogue' - a marathon train journey starting in East Berlin and going on to Moscow - then crossing the whole of Russia to get to Ulan Bator, in Mongolia, and eventually across China and ending up in Beijing. The people he came across on the train journey - railway officials, soldiers, eccentric fellow passengers. The strange food eaten in Mongolia & China...& it would be handy if you spoke Russian, Mongolian & Chinese!
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Slave to my cat
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 19, 2017
Verified Purchase
A wonderful read showing how much things have changed in 30 years. I enjoyed this immensely.
I lived his journey all the way.
2 people found this helpful
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