Taklama

Analysis, book reviews and photography from Abkhazia and the wider Caucasus --- updates when time permits

Book review: The Post-Soviet Wars by Christoph Zürcher

The Post-Soviet Wars — Rebellion, Ethnic Conflict, and Nationhood in the Caucasus

Christoph Zürcher

New York University Press, New York
November 2007
302 pages
ISBN: 978-0-8147-9709-9

Despite its general title, The Post-Soviet Wars covers only the major wars that took place in the Caucasus: the Karabakh war, the two Russo-Chechen wars …

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Book review: Georgisches Reisetagebuch by Jonathan Littell

Georgisches Reisetagebuch

Jonathan Littell
Translation: Hainer Kober

Berlin Verlag, Berlin
October 2008
56 pages
ISBN: 978-3-8270-0854-1

Georgisches Reisetagebuch is a translation into German and slight adaptation and extension of an article by the author Jonathan Littell, originally written in French for Le Monde 2 (the supplementary magazine now simply called …

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Book review: Nooit een thuiswedstrijd by Arthur Huizinga

Nooit een thuiswedstrijd — Een voetbaloorlog in de Kaukasus

Arthur Huizinga

Prometheus, Amsterdam
June 2012
288 pages
ISBN: 978-90-446-1665-1

When Armenian troops conquered the town of Ağdam in 1993, its entire population (some 30000 people) was forced to flee. Nooit een thuiswedstrijd is about the exiled football club FK Qarabağ Ağdam …

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Book review: Georgia Diary by Thomas Goltz

Georgia Diary — A Chronicle of War and Political Chaos in the Post-Soviet Caucasus Thomas Goltz
M.E. Sharpe, Armonk
June 2006
(second edition: February 2009)
296 pages
(second edition: 342 pages)
ISBN: 978-0-7656-1710-1
(second edition: 978-0-7656-2416-1)

Georgia Diary is the final episode of a series of three books in which …

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Book review: Improbable Abkhazie by Leon Colm

Improbable Abkhazia - Récits d'un État-fiction Leon Colm (Illustrations: Francesca Devalier)
Éditions Autrement, Paris
January 2009
88 pages
ISBN: 978-2-7467-1237-9

When Leon Colm first came to Abkhazia in 2000, he was already a seasoned academic. His initial aim was to investigate a state that was not meant to exist, and accordingly …

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Book review: Atlas Géopolitique du Caucase by Jean Radvanyi and Nicolas Beroutchachvili

Atlas Géopolitique du Caucase: Russie, Géorgie, Arménie, Azerbaïdjan: un Avenir Commun Possible?

Jean Radvanyi and Nicolas Beroutchachvili
(Cartography: Manana Kourtoubadzé and Philippe Rekacewicz)

Éditions Autrement, Paris
January 2010
80 pages
ISBN: 978-2-7467-1296-6

Many a book designated 'atlas' is not in fact that, but rather a glossy reference work with an …

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Book review: Contested States in World Politics by Deon Geldenhuys

Contested States in World Politics Deon Geldenhuys
Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke
April 2009
305 pages
ISBN: 978-0-230-57552-3

A commonly heard argument against recognition of Kosovo or Abkhazia is that it would create an immense precedent, given that there are hundreds of separatist movements in the world. If Kosovo or Abkhazia, then …

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Book review: The Caucasus by Frederik Coene

The Caucasus - An Introduction Frederik Coene
Routledge, London
October 2009
240 pages
ISBN: 978-0-415-48660-6

"There are two important Meshketian movements, and each has its own view on the nationality issue. Vatan (Homeland) is a pro-Turkish organization, while Khsna is aware of its Georgian conciousness." (page 160)

"Six months after the …

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Book review: Empty land Promised land Forbidden land by Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen

Empty land Promised land Forbidden land Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen
The Sochi Project
November 2010
272 pages

This is an unusual book. It is a book about Abkhazia, which in itself is rare enough. What is more, it is not academic conflict literature. Still more remarkable, it attempts …

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Book review: Uncertain Democracy by Lincoln A. Mitchell

Uncertain Democracy: U.S. Foreign Policy and Georgia's Rose Revolution

Lincoln A. Mitchell

University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia
December 2008
192 pages
ISBN: 978-0-8122-4127-3

Georgia's November 2003 Rose Revolution has been a popular subject for articles, analyses and opinion pieces. Most of these appear well-timed for the yearly November anniversary …

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