Books about Uzbekistan from Amazon.com

This folded tourist and road map of Kazakhstan also includes the surrounding countries of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan The map features shaded-relief and elevation tinting. Major and minor roads are depicted along with railways, distance in kilometers, state boundaries (& disputed boundaries), airports, historical sites, point of interest, and natural features. Index of placenames is on reverse side of map. Legend in 5 languages: English, German, French, Russian, and Kazakh. Scale is 1:3 million..
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With all the pace and drama of a political thriller, Dirty Diplomacy is a riveting account of a young, fast-living ambassador's battle against a ruthless dictatorship in Central Asia and the craven political expediency in Washington and London that eventually cost him his job.

Craig Murray is no ordinary diplomat. He enjoys a drink or three, and if it's in the company of a pretty girl, so much the better. Murray's scant regard for the rules of the game also extends to his job. When, in the first few weeks of his posting to the little-known Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan, he comes across photographs of a political dissident who has literally been boiled to death, he ignores diplomatic nicety and calls it for what it is: torture of the cruelest sort.

Murray soon discovers that this is no one-off incident: fierce abuse of those opposing the government is rife. It's not long before he is tearing around the country in his embassy Land Rover, shaking off Uzbek police tails and crashing through roadblocks to meet with dissidents and expose their persecutors. He even confronts the despotic president, Islom Karimov, face-to-face.

But Murray's bosses in London's Foreign Office, ever mindful of their senior partners in Washington, don't want to upset the applecart. Karimov is an ally in the newly announced Global War on Terror. His country is host to a big American air base. The last thing they need is a battling young diplomat stirring things up. In Craig Murray, that's exactly what they've got...

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Only Greg Rucka, the thriller genre’s most fearless writer, would dare create a spy so edgy, so explosive, so extreme, she should be rated X.

Tara Chace was once the most dangerous woman alive. And now that the international spy network thinks she’s as good as dead, she’s even more dangerous than ever.

Only one thing could coax Tara back into the game: a chance to vindicate herself. The torture and execution of Dina Malikov has set off a cutthroat grab for power in strategically crucial Uzbekistan. Tara’s job is to slip into the country and extract Dina’s pro-Western husband and their young son before they are murdered—by his ruthless sister.

But there are a couple of wild cards in the deck, including a missing mobile weapons system that can bring down a commercial airliner, not to mention powerful political careers. Now, as she vanishes into hostile territory with a man who may or may not be what he seems, Tara is going to find out that the war on terror is more terrifying than anyone knows. For in a battle where betrayal is a conventional weapon, loyalty is a weakness, and anyone—even a child—is a legitimate target: it’s every spy, every woman, for herself.

Combine a thriller that defies every expectation with a heroine for whom nothing is out of bounds, and the result is Private Wars, a suspense novel so explosively realistic, it should be classified.


From the Hardcover edition..
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From the blue-tiled splendor of Tamerlane's Samarkand to the holy city of Bukhara, and beyond to the desert-girdled khanate of Khiva, Uzbekistan lays claim to a breathtaking architectural legacy. Bound by sand and snow, fed by meltwater from the Roof of the World, these fertile oases have attracted travelers and conquerors along the fragile threads of the Silk Road throughout history. This groundbreaking guide focuses on the wealth of sites and colorful legends along Central Asia's golden road.

• Informative insights into the history, religion and culture of Uzbekistan
• Special topics include the disappearance of the Aral Sea, and the life and death of Tamerlane the Great
• Up-to-date practical information for the traveler, covering visas, customs and travel agencies
• Hints for business visitors
• Environmental issues
• Useful maps, together with detailed plans of principal sites
• 108 color photos, 23 maps.
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This is a police state
This is a democracy
This is rot-gut vodka
This is $2 prostitutes
This is Peace Corps
This is good intentions
This is Ramadan
This is loyalty
This is power outages
This is corruption
This is the Silk Route
This is the former USSR
This is Uzbekistan

Tom Fleming went to Uzbekistan as a forty year old Peace Corps volunteer He was a fish out of water, an infidel in a Muslim land, teaching AIDS prevention and sex education in the most conservative region of Central Asia.

With humor and poignancy Taxi to Tashkent portrays a land little known in the West. Instead of a nation rife with Islamic extremists as portrayed in the Western media, Fleming discovers a land of Korean discos, where blue eyed Muslims listen to Shania Twain, and where shop owners break into applause at the mention of America.

Fleming travels throughout Uzbekistan, from the ecological disaster site of the Aral Sea, to the ancient Silk Route cities of Bukhara and Samarkand. Taxi to Tashkent describes a little-known corner of the world where nothing appears as it seems.

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