I have read all the books I could find about this subject,and
I think that this one is by far the most comprehensive. Clearly
the author has put an enormous amount of work and "IT SHOWS".

The Circassians are one of the world's forgotten peoples. This volume provides in itself a most useful source for a wide variety of information about them and, thanks to the rich bibliography (see another on the author's website), gives readers the opportunity to find out even more from works of narrower but deeper focus.

The Circassians historically spread across the N. W. Caucasus, speaking a language that was closely related to, but mutually unintelligible with, Ubykh and Abkhaz(-Abaza). The Ubykhs lived compactly around today's Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, whilst to their south(-east) lay the ancestral homeland of the Abkhazians. Though contacts existed with the Graeco-Roman world and then with Genoese traders a millennium later, it was not really until an expansive Tsarist Russia started to vie with Turkey for control of the region from the late 18th century that Circassia again impinged on the European conscience. A number of moving accounts have been left by such British visitors as James Bell, John Longworth and Edmund Spencer, which contributed to heightened awareness of the noble Circassian-Ubykh-Abkhazian resistance to the Russian aggressor and sympathy for their cause amongst many in Britain and Europe during the 1830s -- just as the parallel battle for freedom led by Shamil in the N. E. Caucasus excited great admiration. But the inevitable happened in 1864 when the N. W. Caucasian alliance was finally defeated and Russia took control. Most of the surviving Circassians and Abkhazians together with ALL the Ubykhs chose to leave their territories and take refuge in Ottoman lands (mainly Turkey). Ubykh died out in 1992, and the future for Circassian and Abkhaz amongst the diaspora is bleak -- in many ways the future of these two languages even in the Caucasian homeland is far from secure.

Amjad Jaimoukha comes from a Kabardian (East Circassian) family in Jordan and has done his people great service in producing this volume. The main deficiency is the absence of any description of the Circassian language, which, to confess a long-held personal belief, I find to be the most beautiful sounding language I have ever heard, and whose loss would be a tragedy not only for the Circassians as an ethno-linguistic group but also for the world of language-study. One or two other points could be made, as indeed I have in a fuller review for the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, but for the purposes of comment here I hope that the book is successful and enjoyed by all its readers.

Abkhazian, Circassian, now I am looking forward to have Ubykh one from same handbook series, I do want to thanks to Amjad Jaimoukha for his extraordinary work.

Excellent Source of information!

The author was in Armenia at a difficult but pivotal time. He was excited to be there, hardships notwithstanding, and maybe that's why the book was a good read: the author's excitement rubs off on the reader.

He recalls his adventures, his meetings (with top officials and starving farmers alike), and his impressions. We see a country coping with the collapse of its economy, two years after the breakup of the Soviet Union: for example, a cheese shop full of cheese that turns out to radioactive, dumped from Chernobyl; or waking up, lighting a kerosene heater, and waiting for water in the teapot to thaw before eventually boiling.

In the background there is war between neighboring Azerbaijan and the Armenian enclave of Karabagh. We get a look behind the scenes. In one chapter, we are told that according to U.S. and French intelligence reports, Turkey was planning an invasion of Armenia. The suggestion is alarming, and certainly worth looking into.

All-in-all, a worthwhile book.

Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos, the author of Caucasus Chronicles: Nation-Building And Diplomacy In Armenia, 1993-1994, was appointed Greek ambassador to the newly independent Armenia in 1993, entering the country as an ambassador at a pivotal moment when world powers were just starting to struggle for a new world created by the collapse of the Cold War. Caucasus Chronicles provides a survey of nation-building and diplomatic processes in the newly independent Armenia from 1993-94, providing excellent first-person insights.

this book although a fictional tale is based upon true events that occurred during the period 700 to 1200 AD and covers regions in Europe,Asia and Africa. There is enough information to cover the interest of any history buff and satisfy the lover of adventure,romance,mystery,intrigue and historical politics. The story relates the travels of David, the deposed king of Khazaria until he regains his lost kingdom in such detail and style that should hold the interest of any reader till the final chapter.

Monty Kuttner's book is an outstanding conjectural look at what the final years of Khazar independence might have been like. The empire of Khazaria, a Turkish state in southern Russia which converted to Judaism in the 700's, boasted an advanced civilization and a history which spanned from the early 600's until its destruction by the emerging Russian state in the late 900's and early 1000's. Monty's book takes place in the 1100's, long after the might of the Khazar empire has vanished. His Khazaria is a collection of villages and wandering tribes struggling to fend off their external foes while simultaneously having to deal with internal dissention. The book is meticulously researched and incorporates such diverse elements as the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Georgia, a very young Saladin and Moses Maimonides, and the feared Assassins of Alamut. There are some minor errors of historical fact and Mr. Kuttner tends to oversimplify the "barbarian" nations of the steppe, but overall the pace and quality of the writing allow the reader to suspend his or her disbelief.

This book makes a great companion to Anatol Lieven's recent book on Chechnya. Though not as analytical as Lieven's book, "Allah's Mountain's" is well-written and enjoyable to read. This is one of the only books I have found with any significant information whatsoever on Chechnya's neighbor, Ingushetia.

I've always felt much safer following novelists into non-fiction than say biographers, or historians into the realms of fiction. Griffin, who has written a couple of historical novels, is on familiar, though foreign ground. His fictional stories seem to examine cruelty and hope and his first work of non-fiction is no exception. It's a mixture of many genres, all neatly rolled into a short, decisive book. The Caucasus is one of those places, much like the Balkans, which used to confuse me to the point where I'd rather turn the page. But Griffin keeps everything simple and clear, following myths, history and politics along the lines of an expanding Christian nation (Russia) and a defensive Islamic nation (what came to be called Chechnya, Dagestan and Azerbaijan). This book is obviously more topical than the author thought when starting it four years ago. My only complaint is in the inclusion of the author's own travels. At first, it didn't feel as if they merited belonging, but once you catch the writer's drift, that everything is really very close to how it was two hundred years ago, his aims become more and more apparent. Caucasus is blessedly easy to read, and that's no mean feat.

An indepth, well-research account of the ethnic conflicts of Russia's near abroad, the Caucasus, also explaining in detail the international community's response to these conflicts including the UN, and the CSCE, and Russia's role in the conflicts, and Iran and Turkey's interests in the region. A must read for anyone who desires to understand the current situation in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia's own suthern republics.

An indepth look at an Amazing personality and the conditions surrounding his times. Moshe Gammer has done justice to his subject matter.

This report renews with the spirit of cooperation which prevailed in the West prior to 1988 and goes beyond the monotonous TINA mentality of the 1990s. It describes the situation in Central Asia, the variety of governments from fundamentalist Taliban to more democratic republics, the impact of energy on politics, the role of the global and regional powers (US, Europe, Japan, Russia, China, India, Iran), the complexity of relations between ethnicity, religion, development, the risks of not assisting those regions for the people themselves and the rest of the world, the relations that should exist between the West and Islam and also the importance to learn more about those 1 billion people stretched from Morocco to Indonesia.

The report is also a breakthrough because it states the importance of distributing the revenues of oil among the population, avoid dictators pilferage those revenues but that they are invested in sustainable growth and integrate those countries in the global system. This echoes German Foreign Minister concerns about the risk paused by failed states on global security. Corporations are recommended to look for more than their revenues and States to avoid useless Great Games in Central Asia to ensure stable and viable societies. It also proves the World Bank and other international organisations are serious about their desire to improve global material conditions.

An excellent introduction of Central Asia and a new era in International Relations

It's always "Terek region this, Terek region that," and not a word about the poor bastards in Chechnia! Sure, some consider them the "trailer trash of the trans-Caucus," but I find the Chechnians to be heartwarming, charming, and mirthful when they mispronounce the names of ethnic dishes. My feelings aside, I found King's book to be accurate, entertaining, and page-turning. You know, sometimes it's the forgotten stories from the backwaters of history that truly shine a narrowly focused beam of insight that brings the big picture into sharp focus on the wide screen of our modern political era. This is just such a book. Don't let the longish title (it's half as long as the book) fool you...this one wil hold your interest wher it should!

this book really goes into depth the causes of the conflict in chechnya and other mulim republics and why and how russia has failed to quell their aspirations for breaking away from what the inhabitants term as "tsar regime".

a must read for someone who is interested in the history of the conflict in the caucasus especially chechnya.