Released for the first time in trade paperback, this is the classic tale of four men caught in a primitive and violent test of manhood.

The setting is the Georgia wilderness, where the states most remote white-water river awaits. In the thundering froth of that river, in its echoing stone canyons, four men on a canoe trip discover a freedom and exhilaration beyond compare. And then, in a moment of horror, the adventure turns into a struggle for survival as one man becomes a human hunter who is offered his own harrowing deliverance.

Lisa Dickey traveled across the whole of Russia three times—in 1995, 2005 and 2015—making friends in eleven different cities, then coming back again and again to see how their lives had changed. Like the acclaimed British documentary series , she traces the ups and downs of ordinary people’s lives, in the process painting a deeply nuanced portrait of modern Russia.

From the caretakers of a lighthouse in Vladivostok, to the Jewish community of Birobidzhan, to a farmer in Buryatia, to a group of gay friends in Novosibirsk, to a wealthy “New Russian” family in Chelyabinsk, to a rap star in Moscow, Dickey profiles a wide cross-section of people in one of the most fascinating, dynamic and important countries on Earth. Along the way, she explores dramatic changes in everything from technology to social norms, drinks copious amounts of vodka, and learns firsthand how the Russians feel about Vladimir Putin.

Including powerful photographs of people and places over time, and filled with wacky travel stories, unexpected twists, and keen insights, offers an unprecedented on-the-ground view of Russia today.

Cuatro amigos -mediana edad, clase media- deciden realizar un descenso en canoa por un tramo virgen del río Cahulawassee, en una zona aislada de -quizá- el noroeste de Georgia; una aventura a la medida de gente de ciudad: novelesca, incómoda, poco peligrosa. Pero resultó peligrosa. Y no por la agreste naturaleza, sino por los hombres, seres cuya vida se desarrollaba en sociedades marginales, endogámicas, plagadas de taras físicas y psicológicas, hostiles a los forasteros. La violencia humana ante la irrupción de elementos extraños convirtió el río, con el que iban a competir deportivamente, en una prisión de la que tenían que huir. Deliverance es una parábola, vertiginosa y opresiva, sobre la voluntad de supervivencia y sobre cómo ésta transforma a las personas. Una historia cuyo ritmo y tensión favorecieron que fuera llevada al cine (1983) por John Boorman.