Stevens, Thomas. Through Russia on a Mustang. New York: Cassell, 1891.

The author, Thomas Stevens, was born in England in 1854. In 1872, Stevens left his home country of England, to come to the United States where he started off as a miner in Colorado. While in Colorado, he acquired a penny-farthing, which is a bicycle, and started riding across the U.S.. While in New York, he contributed sketches of his ride across the U.S., to Outing Magazine. The magazine funded his bike ride around the world making him the first person ever. While on his ride through numerous countries, he recorded his experiences and sent them back to Outing Magazine and the New York World, so that the people of the U.S. could gain a better idea of the life and customs of various people living in countries including France, Germany, Russia, and Iraq, during that time. Cassell publishing company is the publishing company of Stevens’s book, Through Russia on a Mustang. Cassell was founded in 1833 by John Cassell in England, and in 1868 an American named Robert Turner would develop the American based branch of Cassell publishing into a serious publishing house which would eventually come to publish Stevens’s book, Through Russia on a Mustang.

Stevens’s book, Through Russia on a Mustang, gives us a traveler’s account of Russian culture. Stevens starts in St. Petersburg and then travels by train to Moscow where his journey begins. While in Moscow, Steven’s purchases a mustang, which he calls Texas, and begins his journey. While on his journey, he keeps detailed accounts of his experiences which are mainly focused on the customs, manners and conditions of the Russian people. Various accounts include the lifestyles lived by 19th Century Russian misfits, peasants and aristocrats. His accounts are sent back to the New York World, a newspaper established in New York in 1860 and bought in 1883 by Joseph Pulitzer, where they were put into print.

Stevens’s accounts are detailed and fascinating giving Americans a journalist experience of late 19th century Russia which had recently ended serfdom in 1861, leaving way for much to be questioned with regards to what sort of life the Russian serfs would lead under their newly given freedom.  Stevens description of cities in Russia, which include Sevastopol and Novgorod to mention but a few, along with the cultures of the people, gives Americans a down-to-earth perspective of Russian life without prejudice. (JP 2005)