“Fatland details her eight-month trip through ‘five of the newest countries in the world’ in this fascinating memoir. Her remarkable look at the region serves as a solid introduction to an area that remains little traveled by those from the West.”

– Publishers Weekly

“Fatland’s anecdotes are rich and revelatory… Sovietistan blends complex history with Fatland’s own clear-eyed reporting, the devastation of the Soviet era always in the background (and sometimes the foreground). With the Russian Bear once again on the move, she plumbs the high cost of dictatorships and the human yearning for self-determination. Sovietistan is a perspicacious, vital book about little-known places and real lives; it deserves a wide readership.”

– The Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A lively, if rarely cheerful, travelogue that fills a yawning knowledge gap for readers concerned with international affairs.”

– Kirkus Reviews

“Vivid. In addition to taking the reader on a fascinating journey, Sovietistan highlights what an ethnic mosaic the region is. What is so refreshing about Fatland is her predilection for deliberate moments of bathos and deconstruction. An opportunity for sustained reflection on the region.”

– PopMatters

“In this absorbing travelogue, Erika Fatland picks her way through five former Soviet satellite states, witnessing the social, economic, and environmental damage they’ve sustained.”

– Christian Science Monitor

“An introduction to a deeply misunderstood part of the world…the complexity and beauty of this region are best represented when she goes back in time. Fatland has a level of access most outsiders would never have.”

– Gina Rae La Cerva, The New York Times Book Review