Steve LeVine covers foreign affairs for Business Week. He previously was correspondent for Central Asia and the Caucasus for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for 11 years. His first book, The Oil and the Glory, a history of the former Soviet Union through the lens of oil, was published in October 2007. Putin’s Labyrinth, his new book, profiles Russia through the lives and deaths of six Russians. The updated paperback was released in April 2009.
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Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Harry Potter in Kazakhstan
When the final volume in the Harry Potter series went on sale last Saturday, an 18-year-old college student named Sabila Baimukhamedova was one of the first to snag a copy in Almaty, the Kazakh business capital. The price at the Turkish grocery Ramstore -- a whopping $56 in tenge, compared with $17.99 charged by Amazon.
Her mother, Dilda, bought it for her. "It was ridiculously expensive, but I drove my mom crazy for about two weeks before it came out, and she knows that I'm a huge Harry Potter fan," Sabila says. The actor who plays Harry in the movies, Daniel Radcliffe, says that Sabila is not his only Kazakh fan.
Sabila, an engineering student who will start at Coopers Union in New York in the Fall, says she finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in seven hours, reading all night.
Blogger Alison Hansel just released the book "Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter" (Wiley). Hansel's publishers have partnered with Warm Woolies to donate Potter-themed hats to children in Russia, Kazakhstan, China and the Rosebud and Pine Ridge tribal reservations in South Dakota. http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuar/.artsmain/article/1/1083/1114005/Columns/Counting.the.days.til.the.'Deathly.Hallows'/
Those hats should come in handy in winter. I wonder if they are warm enough for the climate, though.
Tell them they should go to orphanages. I'm sure they will like the idea. The scope of their work goes well beyond Harry Potter. Their website: http://www.warmwoolies.org/ If you know how they can get in touch with orphanages, they will undoubtedly welcome your suggestion(s).
A gripping account of a fascinating — and little known — region.
LeVine brings to life the tycoons, inventors, politicians
and crooks of the Caspian.
The result is a vivid, compelling, and
wonderfully written account of a crucial part of the world.
Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel laureate in economics
For years, Steve LeVine produced relentless, solid
reporting about the southern tier of the former
Soviet Union.
Here, he more than puts it all together. He takes the story to an historical level,
thereby producing a great read about the Caspian oil boom.
Robert D. Kaplan, Author of "Balkan Ghosts"
No one knows the murky world of American politics, international oil and
corporate corruption in the Caspian better than Steve LeVine.
This is an unforgettable story about forgettable fixers and forgettable governments out
for the big bucks.
Seymour M. Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author
LeVine’s merry romp through the new oil Klondike of the 21st century is a page turner chronicling the exotic activities of oligarchs, oil majors, explorers, crooks, wheeler dealers, pipeline builders, and Caspian politicians. We will hear more about this colorful cast if Russia continues to flex its muscles on energy supplies in the region.
With fresh insights into the Chechen wars and Putin’s post-presidency plans, LeVine’s important take on the all-too-real
machinations and bloodthirstiness from which espionage thrillers are made is both unnerving and intriguing.
4 Comments:
In other news:
Blogger Alison Hansel just released the book "Charmed Knits: Projects for Fans of Harry Potter" (Wiley). Hansel's publishers have partnered with Warm Woolies to donate Potter-themed hats to children in Russia, Kazakhstan, China and the Rosebud and Pine Ridge tribal reservations in South Dakota.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuar/.artsmain/article/1/1083/1114005/Columns/Counting.the.days.til.the.'Deathly.Hallows'/
Those hats should come in handy in winter. I wonder if they are warm enough for the climate, though.
If they go to the orphanages, that would be great, whatever time of year.
Tell them they should go to orphanages. I'm sure they will like the idea. The scope of their work goes well beyond Harry Potter. Their website: http://www.warmwoolies.org/
If you know how they can get in touch with orphanages, they will undoubtedly welcome your suggestion(s).
thanks for your great posting
Bathmate
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