Customer Reviews:
Fascinating.......2007-05-15
Reading this book while visiting a friend in Azerbaijan, I could not put it down. The incredible history of this small country and the current issues both told in a very entertaining narrative that can't be found anywhere else.
A solid historic book.......2006-05-05
This is one of the rare historic books reflecting the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict from both sides. It is reach in historic and political facts, and also reflects the author's own eyewitness of the war.
Also in this book, Mr. Goltz makes it clear in the book his unfriendly relations with Azerbaijani government, and criticizes the structure of the gorevnment, and it's adiministration which lead to series of strategic mistakes.
A must read on Azerbaijan.......2006-02-15
Thomas Goltz's book on Azerbaijan is unique, for many reasons. First, he was among the few western journalists to be and actually live in the Caucasus when hell broke loose in the conflicts of the region. Secondly, He speaks the language, bringing him across cultural barriers that even Russian-speakers encounter though they seldom know they do in the non-Russian partso the former USSR. Third, Goltz has a smell for the events of the country and understands the backdoor politics.
In the final analysis, no serious book on Azerbaijan has been written since Goltz published Azerbaijan Diary. This is sad, since his book mainly covers the transition from communism over the brief popular front period into the Aliyev era - and a lot has happened since.
Historians may come around to write books on this period. But no book is likely to be published on this era that physically makes you feel you were there both, when the Popular Front took over power in parliament; or when rockets came crushing down on Azeri positions in Karabakh.
Great book on caucasus region .......2006-01-21
This a a great source of informaiton for those who are interested to learn more about Azzerbaijan and it's relations with the neighbouring countries.
Strongly recommended!.......2006-01-21
It's a great book about Azerbaijan and it's history. Very comprehencive review, great illustrations. Definitely recommended.
Book Description
First-hand accounts that include diary entries and personal letters describe the experiences of boys, sixteen years old or younger, who fought in the Civil War.
Customer Reviews:
The boys war.......2006-11-28
With the many boys who fought in the civil war most of them lied about their age. A lot of them wrote letters or had a diary. Johnny Clem had run away from his home at 11. At age 12 he tried to enlist but they refused to let him join because he was clearly too young. The next day he came back to join as a drummer boy. "I was not happy to trade a musket for a stick". He got his wish in the battle of Shiloh and he became a soldier. I recommend this book to people who want like war and/or personal stories. I liked it. I hope you will to.
EXCELLENT STARTER WORK FOR THE YOUNG READER.......2006-01-20
Jim Murphy has given us a wonderful account of the Civil War with emphasis on the role the young soldier (teen and pre-teen) played in that conflict. The text is quite understandable and the illustrations, black and white photo of the Civil War, make this a valuable and interesting tool in sparking an interest in the young reader. The author uses many first hand accounts and has done a very good job with his research. The writing is not of the dry variety and seems to be able to hold the youner readers interest while still filling his or her head with many interesting and important facts. Highly recommend this one.
Very good book.......2003-03-06
This book is very good & understandable. I like it mainly for the pictures.
Wonderful intro to young soldiers lives in the Civil War.......1999-01-07
Read this aloud with my children about 2 years ago. It sparked my son's interest in Civil War historical fiction. He is not an avid reader, but has read several civil war books including "Red Cap" by Clifton Wisler and just picked up "Across Five Aprils" for his sixth-grade historical fiction assignment. Jim Murphy is a fine writer, weaving quotes, diary entries and anecdotes into a lucent and revealing account of the lives of youths who participated in the Civil War. A fine book!
Book Description
With this volume Stephen Z. Starr brings to a triumphant conclusion his prize-winning trilogy on the history of the Union cavalry.The War in the West provides accounts of the cavalry's role in the Vicksburg campaign, the conquest of central Tennessee, Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, the March to the Sea, and the campaign of the Carolinas. Starr never neglects the numerous difficulties the cavalry faced: equipment shortages; inadequate weapons; unsuitable organization; and inept use of the cavalry by many members of the Union high command. And he never ignores the cavalry's own contributions to its failures. He convincingly demonstrates that in the end, in the battle of Nashville and in the Selma Campaign, the Union cavalry proved enormously effective. With this final volume Starr's objective remains "the portrayal of the life and campaigns of the Union cavalry as they were experienced and fought by its troopers and officers."
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
"Volume three superbly completes a splendid historical work that surely will be a standard and permanent part of all respectable Civil War libraries."--Civil War Times Illustrated
"An analytical narrative and a reference work that will endure as the benchmark history of the Union cavalry."--Civil War History
"An excellent, vigorously written, well-documented study of a relatively neglected Civil War subject."--Journal of the West
640 pages, 8 Halftones, 13 Maps, 6 x 9
Average customer rating:
- An Extraordinary Book - Will Enlighten and Challenge Us All
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Kosovo : Contending Voices on Balkan Interventions
Manufacturer: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
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ASIN: 0802838898 |
Book Description
Powerful commentary on the most volatile international event of the year--the conflict in Kosovo.
This is the first book in any language to bring together--in powerful point-counterpoint format--political, ethical, and cultural commentary on the Kosovo conflict by internationally renowned contributors. Also woven into the book are moving firsthand stories of the suffering Balkan people.
Composed of some sixty essays written in dialog with one another, the book contains assessments by noted politicians and analysts (Henry Kissinger, Juergen Haberman, Zbigniew Brzezinski), government officials (Javier Solana, Kofi Annan, Vaclav Havel, Morton Halperin), award-winning journalists (Mark Danner, Tim Judah, Robert Kaplan), human rights advocates (Julie Mertus), theologians and ethicists (Jean Bethke Elshtain, Brian Hehir, David Little, Vatican Archbishop Tauran, Stanley Harakas), historians (Miranda Vickers), military leaders (General Wesley Clark), and many other key figures.
This book also includes photos, maps, a time line, a list of key names, NATO objectives, and online resources for further study of this critical regional conflict with worldwide implications.
Customer Reviews:
An Extraordinary Book - Will Enlighten and Challenge Us All.......2003-09-24
I could not put this book down. The author explores the various sides, themes, and politics of the Balkan crisis. No voice is silenced but all voices are given time to speak. It is fair, accurate, and unbiased in its look at the terrible crimes perpetrated on the Bosnian people. Beautifully written and full of compassionate insights.
Customer Reviews:
Western Theater Must Have!.......2007-06-07
Let me say up front that I contributed in a small way to this and another of the authors books, but that aside, I am a big fan of Richard Baumgartner and Larry Strayer. One of the reasons, besides being two of the nicest guys you could hope to meet, is that they really put in the hours on primary research, particularly digging out memoirs, narratives, etc. that you won't find other places. When you see so many authors today quoting the same old worn out material, just to knock out a book, you'll appreciate the effort that goes into their works. "Echoes of Battle: The Struggle for Chattanooga : An Illustrated Collection of Union and Confederate Narratives" is no exception. The title is a bit misleading, as it covers more than just Chattanooga, and that makes it all the more enjoyable to read. Amply illustrated with an eye toward fine unpublished photographs, it is a feast for the eyes as well. With nearly 500 narratives used, this approach puts the campaigns in a whole new perspective, and I think the readers won't be disappointed with this approach.
Book Description
In this compelling book Stanley G. Payne offers the first comprehensive narrative of Soviet and Communist intervention in the revolution and civil war in Spain. He documents in unprecedented detail Soviet strategies, Comintern activities, and the role of the Communist party in Spain from the early 1930s to the end of the civil war in 1939. Drawing on a very broad range of Soviet and Spanish primary sources, including many only recently available, Payne changes our understanding of Soviet and Communist intentions in Spain, of Stalin's decision to intervene in the Spanish war, of the widely accepted characterization of the conflict as the struggle of fascism against democracy, and of the claim that Spain's war constituted the opening round of World War II. The author arrives at a new view of the Spanish Civil War and concludes not only that the Democratic Republic had many undemocratic components but also that the position of the Communist party was by no means counterrevolutionary.
Book Description
All for the Union is the eloquent and moving diary of Elisha Hunt Rhodes, who enlisted into the Union Army as a private in 1861 and left it four years later as a 23-year-old lieutenant colonel after fighting hard and honorably in battles from Bull Run to Appomattox. Anyone who heard these diaries excerpted on the PBS-TV series The Civil War will recognize his accounts of those campaigns, which remain outstanding for their clarity and detail. Most of all, Rhodes's words reveal the motivation of a common Yankee foot soldier, an otherwise ordinary young man who endured the rigors of combat and exhausting marches, short rations, fear, and homesickness for a salary of $13 a month and the satisfaction of giving "all for the union."
Customer Reviews:
A must read for Civil War buffs.......2007-10-18
Anyone who is interested in the Civil War has to read this book. All for the Union is the diary of Elisha Hunt Rhodes and covers the four years that he spent in the Union army. Entry by entry, the reader can watch Rhodes go from an enthusiastic young man, to hard, weary soldier. Appalled by the death and destruction early in the book, by the end, laying down to sleep between the dead and dying barely justifies a comment. A wonderful read.
Only A Boy.......2007-03-01
If you are interested in more than big names and big battles this book is well worth reading. Elisha Hunt Rhodes shares his experiences from his enlistment as a boy having never been away from home until his mustering out as a man having earned the rank of Col. He writes in an honest straight forward manner about every aspect of daily life. His strong belief in duty, sense of right and wrong and his ever important sense of humor show in everything he writes. He's an optimist that made it through the war with all these attributes intact. Thankfully for us he kept this diary so that we can understand a little more about life during the Civil War.
Following the footsteps.......2004-11-25
It isn't easy to find quality diaries written so well from the Civil War sometimes; although this book will rank with in the top 10. Popularized and quoted often in Ken Burn's Civil War series on PBS, Rhodes' book about his life as a soldier come to life. Rhodes brings the excitement and patriotic fervor of being a new recruit in the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry early in the war. This patriotic spirit never dies through out his writing. Many times he writes about the daily hardships such as bad weather, sickness and death while always falling back on the duty to ones country and the saving of the union. Rhodes' duty carries him many engagements where death lingers around every corner. Battles such as Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg are just a few that this man witnessed and wrote about firsthand. Rhodes' was really an ideal soldier and loved the life. He started the war as a private and by the end of it was a colonel. Many people would benefit from reading this book be it a historian or beginner looking to further understand soldier life in the Civil War.
Excellent diary of a Civil War Soldier.......2004-07-01
This is a very well written diary of a Civil War Soldier that enlisted as a private and ended the war as a Col. He does not go into great detail about battles but, he does go into detail about the daily life of a soldier. E.H. Rhodes writes a very easy to follow text. I highly recommend this book!!!!
One of the best.......2004-06-09
I have an extensive Civil War Library,and, once in a while, read a book that stands out alone. I postponed things I needed to do in order to finish this as close to one setting as possible.
Elisha Hunt Rhodes was a 'soldier's soldier, and a patriot's patriot. His diary will take you through the hum drum of camp life and the heat of battle. It takes you through the good times as well as the bad times. Your emotions will swing with his. Through all, Rhodes was "All for the Union."
As I finished this book, I realized this must be the best eye witness account ever written.
Book Description
When Chechen rebels took Moscow theatergoers hostage in October 2002, it tragically highlighted the ongoing conflict between Russia and its breakaway republic, Chechnya—a war that has claimed an estimated 200,000 Chechen lives in the past decade. Yet the true nature of the debacle lies behind the headlines. In The Oath, a heroic Chechen doctor relates his harrowing experiences in the line of fire to bear witness to this international calamity, and illuminates his remarkable people and their culture.
In 1994, when fighting threatened to break out in Chechnya, Baiev left his promising career in Russia to aid his countrymen. First, he worked in a Grozny hospital until it was destroyed by Russian shelling. Returning to his hometown of Alkhan Kala, he and his fellow villagers restored a clinic with his own funds, and he soon found himself the only doctor for 80,000 residents in six villages and 5,000 refugees. During the next six years, he worked without gas, electricity, or running water, with only local anesthetics, and at one point dressed wounds with sour cream or egg yolks when supplies ran out. He often donated his own blood for surgeries, and on one occasion performed sixty-seven amputations in forty-eight hours.
Although he mainly treated civilians, Baiev also cared for Russian soldiers and Chechen fighters alike, never allowing politics to interfere with his commitment to the Hippocratic oath. He harbored Russian deserters and Chechen rebels at great personal risk and single-handedly rescued a Russian doctor who was scheduled to be executed. For this, Baiev was nearly killed by both the Russian special forces and Chechen extremists. Only when the Russian Army ordered him arrested for treating a wounded rebel warlord did Baiev finally flee Chechnya.
Echoing through his memoir is the history of Chechnya, a Muslim nation the size of Connecticut with a population of one million. Baiev explains the roots of the Chechen- Russian conflict, dating back 400 years, and he brings to life his once-beautiful ancestral home of Makazhoi where his family clan goes back generations, steeped in ancient traditions that are an intriguing blend of mountain folklore—including blood vendettas, arranged marriages, the authority of village elders—and Muslim religious rituals. And he writes frankly about the challenges of assimilating into western culture and about the post-traumatic stress disorder that has debilitated him since the war began.
The Oath is an important eyewitness account of the reality of the Chechen-Russian conflict, in which countless atrocities have been committed against average Chechens in stark contrast to the Kremlin’s portrayal of the conflict. It is also a searing, unforgettable memoir that is certain to become a classic in the literature of war.
Customer Reviews:
A compelling read, deeply inspiring and heartwrenching.......2006-11-26
This book is far more than a memoir -- it is a page-turning narrative of the wonderful and terrible drama of life and war in a region about which we think little and know even less, written by a man of exceptional bravery and humanity. I met Dr. Baiev shortly after his arrival in Washington, DC, where my girlfriend (working for Physicians for Human Rights at the time) coordinated PHR's assistance to Dr. Baiev in Washington. At the time I had little appreciation for just what this man had been through, although it was obvious he had survived a harrowing ordeal. To read now the full story behind the brief weeks in which his life intersected ours has been both fascinating and deeply moving. His account of living as a Caucasus youth in the Soviet Union, his struggle to become a doctor, and his extraordinary dedication to his profession, his people and and his faith through two protracted and brutal wars is by turns fascinating, inspiring and heartwrenching. You will not find a more intimate account of the conflict in Chechnya, nor a better illustration of the way that such conflicts have become simultaneously global and local. If you care about peace, if you care about the prospects for a free and prosperous world, you cannot afford not to care about the gross violations of human rights that accompany conflicts increasingly economic, sectarian and cultural all at once. Dr. Baiev's gripping account puts a profoundly human face on the complexity and the urgency of coming to grips with the destructive conflicts that need not and should not continue into the twenty-first century.
Thrilling, heartbreaking must read primer on the human toll of war.......2006-06-03
If you are interested in war, modern politics, news, or human rights, you need to read this book. It shows what warfare is really like, what happens to people after governments make decisions. And it is heartbreaking, but you cannot put it down.
The conflict in Chechnya is mostly forgotten and then often miscontrued topic for most of the world. Dr. Khassan Baiev's memoir sheds a light on the horrors of life in Chechnya since 1994, what this ghastly, genocidal war means for the common people and Russian grunts. Baiev is a surgeon with a big heart, and never turned anyone away. He explains casualties from the rather disturbing anatomical perspective of a surgeon, illustrating how fragile bodies and how much pain people can suffer.
The book starts with his life before the war: of the ancient and beautiful Chechen traditions, of the extreme and often brutal Russian racism. As you read the book, the cultural differences between the ancient highlander Chechens and the rest of the Western world seem dwarfed by how lovely their life was, and how, as you read it, you can see yourself in their world. What stays with you is that once you empathize on this level, the eruption of war and desolation is utterly heartbreaking. Because Baiev lived it we see an intimate world being shattered, not a headline.
Baiev (narrowly) survives years of war until both the Russians and Chechen guerillas are out for his head because his clientele includes everyone (and mostly civilians) so he has to escape to America, and eventually moved to Boston. His observants description of coming to America, seeing how peaceful it is here, how people of many races coexist, and how a town in Vermont took care of his family, gives you a deeper appreciation for what we have in this country and that many take for granted.
I've never read anything that captures so vividly and personally the heartbreakingly human face of war. I think everyone should read it just to be educated on something that is going on at this moment, but that many people do not know about or simply don't understand. It speaks of overwhelming swaths of cruelty and evil, but also transcendent moments of grace and joy, humanity between enemies. Baiev treated anyone who needed help, so we see souls, not sides.
What steals the breath from you, what made me rather emotional, is how war is revealed here as so useless, so tragic, so profoundly evil because we are all people, and war destroys and perverts this sacred life that we all share in.
an excellent book.......2006-04-24
If you plan on investing your time in reading one book this year make it this one. It is a remarkable tale of an honourable man trying to survive in barbaric times under the tyranny of Putin's Russia. Hassan Biev states that one in every five chechens has been killed as a result of the conflict. However after all this carnage the war stills continues and the state still exits in the hearts of men like Dr. Biev. Perhaps the actions of people like him will ultimately lead to peace in that most violent of places.
A very interesting book........2005-07-30
Let me begin by saying that if everything in this book is true Dr. Baiev has my total respect and admiration. It's inspiring to realize that people of his caliber do exist.
There are, however, one or two disquieting features of this book that I feel compelled to mention. After having read the initial reviews I had expected not only a compelling story of human strength amidst tragedy, but a book of high literary accomplishment. That has not come to pass. Whatever Dr. Baiev's own writing style, it has been submerged in the journalistic style of Nicholas and Ruth Daniloff. Nick Daniloff is he of the famous Soviet espionage sting of the 1980's when he was arrested in Moscow in an apparent KGB set-up. Ronald Reagan himself is reported to have been involved in getting Daniloff released. I just wish Dr. Baiev had been able to choose a more literary writer to assist him in developing this book.
Another point I'm almost embarrassed to make is that Dr. Baiev comes across in this book as almost too good to be true. Not only is he an heroic doctor, brave humanitarian, and loyal son, brother, and friend, he is also described a medical entrepreneur, a doctor who not only moonlights as a cosmetic surgereon, but who is also a national martial arts champion! If this book is made into a film I can only imagine Harrison Ford playing the part of Dr. Baiev. It almost seems as if some of Dr. Baiev's financial and sports successes were included in the book just to appeal to the certain segment of the community that might find those aspects of his life as compelling as the humanitarian work of saving lives and limbs amidst war and destruction.
Nevertheless, the book is full of unique tid-bits. While many people reading it will be aware of Russia's halting attempts to convert its military forces from a large army of draftees to a smaller one of professional soldiers this is the first time I'd seen such a negative depiction of these new contract soldiers. I don't think I'd have gotten this insight anywhere but in this book. Likewise, it was also very interesting to read that in addition to the fight between the Russian military and the Chechen rebels there is a criminal, opportunistic element also actively engaged in exploiting the tragedy of Chechnya and which appears to be much more influential than I would have imagined. I think that this insight is very valuable, not only in the context of the Chechenya, but in understanding the influence of criminal opportunists in other conflicts. For me this insight itself was worth the price of the book.
I certainly recommend The Oath, worts and all.
Opened My Eyes.......2005-07-25
This book opened my eyes to the tragedy in Chechnya, and now I want to know more. A compelling, first-hand narrative of the situation in Chechnya that everyone should read.
Book Description
Andrew's Meier riveting portrait of Chechnya, a land ravaged by indescribable carnage, enables us to understand the origins of this brutal conflict like no other recent work.
The barbaric, terrorist siege in the summer of 2004 that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent children in Beslan did not begin either there or in the take-over of a Moscow theatre in 2002. As Andrew Meier explains in this utterly compelling account, the most recent Chechen war actually broke out on New Year's Eve in 1994 when Boris Yeltsin sent hundreds of tanks to the center of the city of Grozny in an effort to quell popular demands for independence from Russia. Six years later, Meier, braving great personal danger, traveled to the scene of one of the largest civilian massacres carried out by Russian troops, reporting on the carnage in which over 60 Chechen civilians—including a pregnant woman and many elderly—were brutally slaughtered in one of the war's most horrific "mop-up" operations. Days after a Chechen woman became the conflict's first female suicide bomber, Meier visited this war-torn province, encountering, among others, kidnappers, Wahhabi Islamists aligned with the Taliban, and a stream of Russian mothers arriving at the morgue to identify their fallen soldier sons. Chechnya is Meier's stunning report from a region where the death toll has already exceeded 100,000 people, and a book that attempts to comprehend what compels men to shoot children in the back.
Customer Reviews:
A Short and Sad but Interesting Read.......2006-01-17
This is a great little book on a horrible war. He is a former Moscow correspondent for Time. The book (112 pages of text) is the product of his sometimes harrowing experiences traveling through Chechnya and surrounding areas. Part current events commentary and part Travel Log from Hell, the book's style is similar to the travel books of Robert D. Kaplan. Meier includes some historical background on the events described but mostly it is a record of Meier's conversations with Russians, Chechnyans and others, along with descriptions of what he saw. Meier is also a brave man, although he admits to being scared out of his wits at times when he was there; Chechnya is the kidnapping capital of the world. It is the only industry the province really has.
Important note: The chapters from this book were extracted from Meier's longer work, Black Earth: A Journey Through Russia After the Fall. If you have purchased Black Earth, therefore, you do not need to buy this book.
This is a the kind of book on international affairs that one can read for entertainment. Meier is a good and humorous writer, and the book contains a lot of anecdotes about the people he met. I spent a summer working in Russia a few years back, and Meier's stories bring back memories. At one point he writes of how, while staying in a hotel in south Russia, he finally pulled the plug on the phone after getting repeated calls with female voices asking "You need girl now?" It reminded me of my first visit to a McDonald's in Moscow, the one nearest to the Red Square; there was a line of women in black miniskirts lined up outside.
Parts of it are less than humorous. The chapter on the massacre in Aldy, near what is left of Grozny, where dozens of men, women and children were rounded up and murdered during a document check, is chilling.
Meier has a way with words and even some of the horrible things are hard not to find intriguing. In describing what remained of Grozny after the Russian assault in 1999:
I had seen Kabul in the summer of 1996, just before the Taliban took the Afghan capital. Leveled so many times, Kabul had no cityscape. Little, save the remnants of the old Soviet apartment blocks, distinguished it from the Stone Age. Grozny, however, looked worse, much worse... Of the few buildings that still stood, many were sliced open. Walls and roofs had fallen, revealing the abandoned remains of homes inside: sinks, burned cabinets, old stoves. Furniture, belongings, anything of value had disappeared long ago. We drove on, accelerating between the checkpoints, now approaching the city center. Each turn revealed only more concrete carcasses, more black metal torched, more gaping holes that held only darkness.
As one Russian general explained, according to Meier: "Our strategy is simple... If they shoot at us from a house, we destroy the house. If they shoot from all over a village, we destroy the village."
In addition to lots of suffering innocents, Chechnya also has terrorists, and Wahhabism is on the rise. While some Russian soldiers depicted are cruel and violent, most are simply hapless and corrupt. The decline of the Russian military is a sad, really pathetic thing to see, even though we were enemies not that long ago. I had read anecdotes about Russian officers drunk on duty, and of soldiers being so corrupt that they actually would sometimes sell their weapons to the Chechnyans, and wondered how common that was. One Chechnyan warlord with whom Meier spoke told him that they actually got the majority of their weapons that way.
For those in the West thinking that Russia might be a great ally in the war on Islamic terrorism, the war in Chechnya is a sober reminder. Aside from Russia's nuclear aid to Iran or protection and Saddam's Iraq, there is the issue of what they could actually be relied upon to do. From everything I've read it seems that Russia's intelligence services are still top notch, but the military has practically gone to nothing. The potential is there, but this is a sad sight indeed. Meier's book is not only a line of sight into the war in Chechnya, it is also says a lot about Russia as well.
This book is NOT new, but a reproduced chapter from Black Earth.......2005-10-01
I bought this book in anticipation of Meier's extended coverage of the Chechen conflict. What I did not know when I purchased this book, nor was mentioned anywhere on the reviews or on the cover, is that THIS BOOK IS EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE CHAPTER ON CHECHNYA IN BLACK EARTH. In essense, I feel scammed. Do not buy this book if you already own Black Earth. You'll find out by page one that this is just a chapter taken out, repackaged and sold as a separate book. I could not believe it when I read the first few pages--this is absolutely shameful. Did the publishers and Andrew Meier think that the reading public is so stupid and so memory lapsed that we would not see this right away? I do not appreciate the fact that I spent extra money on an unnecessary and misrepresented book.
A heartbreaking, critical piece of journalism.......2004-11-17
If the cover doesn't break your heart the content of this courageous and brutally bleak piece of journalism will. Meier was able to go where no other western journalist had the ability or courage to go. And his report of the decimation in Chechnya, particularly in the village of Aldy, is an important and critical piece of journalism, which is crucial for understanding Russia's actions in the region and the response of Chechens in their quest for independence. If the Aldy massacre had the media attention Beslan did the portrayal of this centuries old conflict would be much more fairly represented in the press.
Book Description
This book illuminates one of the world's most troubled regions from a unique perspective--that of a prominent Russian intellectual. Valery Tishkov, a leading ethnographer who has also served in several important political posts, examines the evolution of the war in Chechnya that erupted in 1994, untangling the myths, the long-held resentments, and the ideological manipulations that have fueled the crisis. In particular, he explores the key themes of nationalism and violence that feed the turmoil there. Forceful, original, and timely, his study combines extensive interview material, historical perspectives, and deep local knowledge. Tishkov sheds light on Chechnya in particular and on how secessionist conflicts can escalate into violent conflagrations in general. With its balanced assessments of both Russian and Chechen perspectives, this book will be essential reading for people seeking to understand the role of Islamic fundamentalist nationalism in the contemporary world.
Customer Reviews:
a subtle, unpacking of the Chechen conflict.......2005-05-31
I came to this book after reading several books on the Caucusus -- Yo'av Karny's 'Highlanders' (2001) being the best -- and a couple on Chechnya -- Khassan Baiev's memoir 'The Oath' (2004) the most profound of those. Admittedly, I came to Tishkov's work skeptical: he is Russian, after all. For those of us perhaps a little too eager to see local resistances to 'imperial' power and statehood as liberatory struggles, Tishkov engages us in a real marvel of anthropology, teasing apart threads, and questioning assumptions. Like Baiev, albeit in a very different way, Tishkov's professionalism, his belief in the rationalism of the anthropological method, carries this book. It is certainly possible he may have carefully selected and then edited his informants' words, but to what end? Throughout the book I was successively impressed by his unwillingness to engage in "a debate over the truths of who did what during the Chechen war." This is not to say that Tishkov avoids pointed commentaries about either Russian hubris or Chechen entrepreneurial violence, but it is to say that he does a profound job in helping his readers understand the precarious nature of war and peace, especially in a cultural climate where "even the slightest of differences can be used to justify violence."
The casualty of war........2005-04-28
Following the tide of change that resulted in the breakup of the Soviet Union, the people of Chechnya proclaimed their independence in November 1991. Inevitably, many events took place between the newly formed nation and the Russian Federation, leading to the invasion of Chechnya by Russian troops in early December of 1994. A conflict that Anatol Lieven, the author of Chechnya: Tombstone Of Russian Power, has referred to as "the greatest epics of colonial resistance of the past century". Thus, for the next ten years, one bloody war after another reduced a thriving country to rubble; the Chechens enduring unimaginable suffering with no end in sight. To date, the struggle for self-determination has somehow, develop into an "Islamic" guerrilla war. Chechnya: Life In A War-Torn Society is not an account of the war; rather it is a reflection on a Chechen society forced into a never-ending, cruel and traumatizing war. The author of this scholarly text, Valery Tishkov, is currently the director of the Institute of Ethnography and Anthropology at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Therefore, his views on the conflict can be deemed authoritative and to some extent, biased.
In the first five chapters, the author seeks for the answer by explaining the historical context of events such as Stalin's atrocious deportation of the Chechens to the lifeless steppes of Kazakhstan during World War II, which the Chechens suffered in silence, undoubtedly created bitterness in their memories. Yet he asserts that it is not a reason for the unending conflict. Nor, according to Tishkov, do ethnic, tribal, or religious disparities explain the tragedy of this war. Tishkov however places the core of the problem in the early stage of Boris Yeltsin's presidency when rivalries between factions paralyzed the operations of the government in dealing with the Chechen crisis. He perceives the bloodshed as the result of unresponsiveness and puzzlements on the Russian leaders when the Chechen crisis first emerged and the reluctance to deal with General Dzhokhar Dudayev, whom the author introduces in chapter six, while the situation is still in control. All through the book, Tishkov observes the first war and its aftermath through the eyes of fifty-four Chechens whom he and his associates interviewed at length. These "informers" have infused his account of the war with an exclusive directness and subtlety. Their recollections offer a distinctive ethnographic description and analysis of the war, the outcome, and what precipitated it.
According to the survivors and Tishkov, the Chechens success in the first war can be attributed to the use of "guerrilla warfare", with tactics such as ambushes and attacks on the enemy's lines of communication which the author of Resisting Rebellion, Anthony J. Joes, stated as one of the vital strategy for insurgents to succeed. Tishkov goes on to express his admiration for the Chechen fighters' ability to overcome the psychological fear and intimidation and master the techniques of guerrilla warfare. Nevertheless, in chapter seven, when they staged and recorded their attacks, Tishkov portrays the exhibitionist behavior of the Chechen fighters as acts of terrorism. The author fails to realize that it is one of the ways that terrorists can get their objectives across to a wider audience. In his book Terror In The Mind Of God: The Global Rise Of Religious Violence, Mark Juergensmeyer, the noted sociologist and the Director of Global and International Studies, explains it as a theater that terrorists use to conduct terror for their audiences whom they are trying to terrorize. Yet, Tishkov fails to mention the atrocities that Russian troops committed on the Chechens that provoked the situation in the first place. On the aspect of religious, from chapter eleven to the rest of the book, Tishkov emphasizes the negative influences of Arab outsiders in the conflict, such as the al-Qaeda terrorist's network, whom he feels is using Chechnya as a stage determined to turn it into another Islamic state similar to the Taliban of Afghanistan. Tishkov's Chechnya: Life In A War-Torn Society is a recommended book since it does not try to venerate or condemn either side of the conflict but to expose how the war-monger parties in both Moscow and Grozny have made the erroneous political decisions that brought war to the Chechens and terrors to the citizens of Russia. Last but not least, the reader of this book must approach it with an open mind and not to form their judgments prematurely. Such as, in the view of some Westerners, the conflict is being about a small brave nation fighting against an imperial monster, or, in the view of Russia, an armed coup d'etat in Chechnya led by General Dudayev, resulting in the rise of an aggressive paramilitary regime that challenged both the Russian state and its armed forces. Nevertheless, it is a conflict that for Russia, according to Joes, who ranks it as one of the most disastrous counterinsurgent experiences on record, with the full implications of which have yet to manifest themselves.
Very reccommended.......2005-03-18
This is a very good book about the Chechen War written from the viewpoint of the fighters. Most books on this topic are written by Liberals apologists for terrorism, who sympathise with the rebels and blame Russia for the terrorist acts committed by Chechens. Others are by extreme Conservative Christians who just hate all Muslims. Chechnya went from being a struggle for independence to a Holy Jihad. If you want to hear the real story from the voices of the Chechens, here it is! This book is easier to read then Wolves of Islam, and I reccommend reading both!
A balanced yet personal look at the conflict........2005-02-18
Tishkov presents a blanced, well researched account of the two Russian-Chechnyan conflicts. Filled with interviews of both Chechnyns and Russians, the book gives a factual account of the war mixed with personal stories of the survivors. Highly reccomended if you want a down the middle view.
A relatively balanced analysis of this difficult conflict.......2004-08-17
Unlike many other books on Chechnya, this one offers a unique ethnographic account and analysis of this war and of what preceded it. Although very academic, it offers 'direct voices' of Chechens (mostly) that either suffered the war or have escaped it and now live elsewhere. The book does not attempt to glorify or condemn either side but, on the contrary, demonstrates how hawkish parties in both Moscow and Grozny have committed acts of political shortsightedness that dragged the country into war.
While this book is not going to satisfy anyone whose opinion has already been formed, especially anyone who views this conflict in terms of a small brave nation fighting against an imperial monster, it is more scientific and balanced than any other book that exists on this subject in English. It also takes a stab at Western preconcieved notions such as a failure to recognize ethnic cleansing of Chechnya in 1991-94 when the city of Grozny has been cleansed of non-Chechens who were forced to leave the republic or killed, their appartnments having been taken by the militants.
In short, this book will please you if you are looking for a balanced account or if you have an open mind and are not already set in condemning the Russians. After all, these are Chechen voices too.
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