8 May 2013
Bourdieu's Secret Admirer in the Caucasus — A World-System Biography
Georgi M. Derluguian
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago
July 2005
416 pages
ISBN: 978-0-226-14282-1
A description of Bourdieu's Secret Admirer in the Caucasus must begin with an explanation of its somewhat unpractical, yet intriguing title. The admirer in question is …
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17 April 2013
Following Tolstoy we may say that all happy democracies are alike. And probably, so are all totalitarian dictatorships. But all flawed democracies are flawed in their own way, as the Venezuelan Presidential election of last weekend demonstrates.
According to the official result, the election — following the death of Hugo Chávez …
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27 March 2013
Eight Pieces of Empire — A 20-Year Journey through the Soviet Collapse
Lawrence Scott Sheets
Crown Publishers, New York
November 2011
336 pages
ISBN: 978-0-307-39582-5
The publication of Eight Pieces of Empire is good news, because Lawrence Scott Sheets — currently South Caucasus project director for the International Crisis Group — is one …
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6 February 2013
The Ghost of Freedom — A History of the Caucasus
Charles King
Oxford University Press, New York
January 2008
314 pages
ISBN: 978-0-19-517775-6
The Ghost of Freedom is not really a history of the Caucasus, but rather a history of the Caucasus and Russia's involvement therein since 1800. Moreover, much of …
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30 January 2013
Let Our Fame be Great — Journeys Among the Defiant Peoples of the Caucasus
Oliver Bullough
Allen Lane, London
March 2010
508 pages
ISBN: 978-1-846-14141-6
Let Our Fame be Great takes its name from an episode of North Caucasus mythology. In the tale, the Narts — the heroes of these stories — are …
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19 December 2012
The Caucasus — an introduction
Thomas de Waal
Oxford University Press, New York
August 2010
272 pages
ISBN: 978-0-1953-9976-9
It is always possible to find fault with a book if only one makes an effort. In the case of The Caucasus, Thomas de Waal's new book, the most serious issue thus …
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5 December 2012
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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28 November 2012
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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10 April 2012
Last week Johanna Popjanevski and Svante Cornell released a report with the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program (link), in which they detail the findings of their investigation into a series of (attempted) bomb attacks that hit Georgia between 2009 and 2011. These most notably include a car bomb …
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21 December 2011
The post-election stand-off in South Ossetia between rightful winner Alla Dzhioyeva and the authorities seemed to come to an end with the agreement reached on Friday 9 December. However, while most of the agreement's letter was adhered to, its spirit was violated.
As provisioned, Alla Dzhioyeva called on her supporters …
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