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The epic story of the world´s longest and greatest railway, as told by Britain´s bestselling transport historian.

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Christian Wolmar expertly tells the story of the Trans-Siberian railway from its conception and construction under Tsar Alexander III, to the northern extension ordered by Brezhnev and its current success as a vital artery. He also explores the crucial role the line played in both the Russian Civil War -Trotsky famously used an armoured carriage as his command post - and the Second World War, during which the railway saved the country from certain defeat. Like the author´s previous railway histories, it focuses on the personalities, as well as the political and economic events, that lay behind one of the most extraordinary engineering triumphs of the nineteenth century.

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Christian Wolmar is Britain´s foremost railway historian, with almost a dozen books on railways in Britain and abroad. This is one of his best. Witty, fluent and opinionated, he shows a superb grasp of Russia - its people, history and mindset... Wolmar leaves us in awe of an achievement that has made the Trans-Siberian not only the longest but the greatest railway line ever built. The Times

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Wolmar, Christian
Christian Wolmar is a writer and broadcaster. He is the author of The Subterranean Railway (Atlantic Books). He writes regularly for the Independent and Evening Standard, and frequently appears on TV and radio on current affairs and news programmes. Fire and Steam: A New History of the Railways in Britain was published by Atlantic Books in 2007.

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