The Reindeer People

by Piers Vitebsky

Russia has 5,000 miles of Arctic territory and there are 20 different peoples living there, most of whom are reindeer people, clinging to the shreds of what they once were. Vitebsky lives with and studies the Eveny people. It is an in-depth portrait of reindeer herders. They use every part of the reindeer, they eat it, dress in its hide, drive them and, when they are travelling with them, they look and smell like them too. There is this strange symbiosis. The book is full of poignancy and lyricism, a place where cold is the natural state of mind and heat is a luxury.