RSGS Inspiring People Talk: Howard Amos: Russia Starts Here

Howard Amos is speaking at the University of Edinburgh on Thursday 5 November, as part of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society's Inspiring People series. The talk takes its title from his book, Russia Starts Here, which looks at modern Russia through the Pskov Region, right on the border with NATO and the EU.

Amos built the book on hundreds of interviews and extensive travel, and the talk follows the lives of ordinary people from the area — politicians, priests, historians, orphans, doctors and soldiers — and the ways their lives were moulded by the region's shifting socio-political landscape. It's a portrait of a place shaped by the various regimes that ruled it through the 20th century, told through the people who lived through it rather than from a distance.

If you're interested in how a single region can mirror the wider history of a country, this is a good place to start. It's less about the big headlines and more about the individuals on the ground, and how the political shifts of the last hundred years actually felt to the people who stayed.

The talk is at the University of Edinburgh, Old College South Bridge, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, starting at 19:30. Entry is free.