Books about Caucasus from Amazon.com

The first example of the psychological novel in Russia, A Hero of Our Time influenced Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov, and other great nineteenth-century masters that followed Its hero, Pechorin, is Byronic in his wasted gifts, his cynicism, and his desire for any kind of action-good or ill-that will stave off boredom. Outraging many critics when it was first published in 1840, A Hero of Our Time follows Pechorin as he embarks on an exciting adventure involving brigands, smugglers, soldiers, rivals, and lovers.

This edition includes a new introduction, chronology, suggestions for further reading, maps, and full explanatory notes..
Price: $7.33 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The master of the hardheaded travelogue, Robert D. Kaplan returns with a book on what he calls "the New Near East," an area stretching from the Balkans to Central Asia that "might become the seismograph of world politics" in the new century. That doesn't sound like good news: "The pitiless history of the Near East [is] dominated by marauding armies and earthquakes while peace treaties have merely formalized temporary stalemates on the ground." Kaplan has made a career of writing about the world's trouble spots "without illusions"--his books Balkan Ghosts and The Ends of the Earth are at once influential and pessimistic.

Eastward to Tartary is a fascinating exploration of places Kaplan has not written about in depth before: "Third World Europe" (Romania and Bulgaria), Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and the confusing conglomeration of countries and peoples in the Caucasus. Smart observations leap off almost every page. "In every Arab city I have ever visited, people were polite and honest, running after you to return a loose coin you have left at a soft-drinks stand," he writes. So why hasn't democracy taken hold in the Islamic world? "The very perfection of the Islamic belief system begot a naive absolutism that made the compromises of normal political life impossible." In an aside on ancient Assyria, Kaplan notes, "The theme is always the same: Highly militarized and centralized states and empires, so indomitable in one decade or generation, hack themselves to pieces or are themselves conquered in another." Then he reminds readers that Assyria once bestrode present-day Iraq and Syria--a "hauntingly appropriate" coincidence. And surprising facts abound: "Turkey represents the most stable governmental dynasty in world history, with the Turkish soldiery able to trace the roots of its power to the Roman emperors." Fans of Kaplan's previous books won't want to miss this one, and neither will new readers interested in this part of the world. --John J. Miller.
Price: $8.90 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Caucasus mountains rise at the intersection of Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. A land of astonishing natural beauty and a dizzying array of ancient cultures, the Caucasus for most of the twentieth century lay inside the Soviet Union, before movements of national liberation created newly independent countries and sparked the devastating war in Chechnya.
Combining riveting storytelling with insightful analysis, The Ghost of Freedom is the first general history of the modern Caucasus, stretching from the beginning of Russian imperial expansion up to the rise of new countries after the Soviet Union's collapse. In evocative and accessible prose, Charles King reveals how tsars, highlanders, revolutionaries, and adventurers have contributed to the fascinating history of this borderland, providing an indispensable guide to the complicated histories, politics, and cultures of this intriguing frontier. Based on new research in multiple languages, the book shows how the struggle for freedom in the mountains, hills, and plains of the Caucasus has been a perennial theme over the last two hundred years--a struggle which has led to liberation as well as to new forms of captivity. The book sheds valuable light on the origins of modern disputes, including the ongoing war in Chechnya, conflicts in Georgia and Azerbaijan, and debates over oil from the Caspian Sea and its impact on world markets.
Ranging from the salons of Russian writers to the circus sideshows of America, from the offices of European diplomats to the villages of Muslim mountaineers, The Ghost of Freedom paints a rich portrait of one of the world's most turbulent and least understood regions..
Price: $19.61 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This culmination of a fascinating seven-year photographic journey takes viewers through the countries and enclaves once held in orbit by the immense gravity of Moscow, the nucleus of the Soviet empire. Now each region is on its own in a chaotic political environment, sometimes without diplomatic recognition from neighbors, much less the international community. Abkhazia, an unrecognized country on the Black Sea, was once the natural pearl of the empire, where bellicose generals and productive factory managers came to relax. The spacecraft crash zones between Russia and Kazakhstan reveal a Soviet-inflected version of the entrepreneurial spirit. In Transdniester, a breakaway region of Moldova that survives by functioning as a giant black market for illicit traffic in all manner of goods, from leftover Soviet munitions to bootlegged booze, Bendiksen was expelled on the grounds that he was a "protagonist in an international spy ring." These 62 hauntingly beautiful and often arresting color photographs unsentimentally reveal the often grim circumstances in these half-forgotten regions, uniformly poor and polluted, and often politically unstable. We may not hear much about them today, but we will certainly hear more as the fall of the Iron Curtain continues to reverberate throughout the region..
Price: $21.92 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $10.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Examining the interplay between Caspian security and energy development, this comprehensive book offers important new findings about the relationship between competition for energy resources; political and economic development in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan; and the propensity for conflict in the Caspian region. The contributors, a leading group of scholars and policymakers, also explore the ways in which Russia, China, Iran, and Turkey are fighting to protect their energy interests in the newly independent states and how this rivalry influences regional security and U.S. policy..
Price: $35.96 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $17.27 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This long-awaited revised third edition to the original and most comprehensive guidebook in English about Georgia reflects the tumultuous geopolitical reality of the country in the new millennium. Bordered by the Caucasus Mountains to the north, the Black Sea to the west, Azerbaijan to the east and Turkey to the south, Georgia stands at the crossroads of Europe and Asia and as such occupies an extremely strategic position along the Silk Route. This fascinating land is home to one of the most hospitable people in the world whose culture dates back to the Bronze Age. This guide explores the various regions of the country in depth, focusing on the Golden Age of Georgian culture in art and architecture during the medieval period but by no means neglecting the bar and restaurant scene of today. Literary excerpts from renowned Georgian and European authors, as well as from the national epic, The Knight in the Panther's Skin, provide added insight. This is the guide to have when touring the Caucasus and the one the New York Times called, "the best guidebook to Georgia."

• This guide explores an extraordinarily beautiful country which at the same time has enormous strategic importance within the region
• Comprehensive study of the country's religion, art and architecture
• Literary excerpts provide an insight into a culture little known in the West
• Detailed section on local food, wine and Georgian hospitality
• Overview of business environment
• Authoritative history of Georgia from tribal rule to national independence
• Useful websites
• 101 color photographs
• 22 maps and plans

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Price: $15.57 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Seeking to fragment any possible source of resistance to Moscow's authority, Stalin split the Armenian nation between Armenia and Azerbaijan. When the USSR fell apart, the outlook seemed bleak for the Nagorno-Karabagh Armenians locked uncomfortably into Azerbaijan. Random pogroms were followed by systematic ethnic cleansing. And armed resistance.

Oil-rich Azerbaijan cracked down and a bloody conflict ensued in which elements of the old Soviet military machine were put to the test in unexpected ways. Afghan Mujahidin, Chechen terrorists and missing nuclear weapons all played roles in Nagorno-Karabagh's struggle to survive.

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Price: $9.97 [Notify me when price goes down.]