Siberian Education Growing Up in a Criminal Underworld [Paperback]

In a contested, lawlessregion between Moldova and Ukraine known as Transnistria, a tightly knit groupof honest criminals live according to strict codes of ritualized respect andfierce loyalty. In a voice utterly compelling and unforgettable, Nicolai Lilin,born and raised within this exotic subculture, tells the story of his moraleducation outside the bounds of society as we know it, where men upholdvalues with passionand often by brute force.Lilin may have thebirthright of a crook, but he has the eye of an anthropologist, and he trainsit on the folkways of an outlaw subculture as ritualized and moralistic as anyreligion.This is the Russian gangland recast as medieval Romance. . . . Amid the depravity of its anti-heroes, Marvelous and Illuminating. . . . Forces us to reassess our notions of good and evil. Irvine Welsh