Imperium is the story of an empire: the constellation of states that was submerged under a single identity for most of the twentieth century - the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Just before the Berlin Wall came down, as the empire convulsed and died, Kapuscinski talked to hundreds of ordinary Soviet people about their extraordinary lives and the terror from which they were emerging. Russia was a real threat which hung over the early part of Kapuscinski's life. It is hardly surprising that he understands Russia better, and writes about the country with greater clarity and beauty, than those who know Russia only as an abstraction.