Recommended by Michael Reynolds:

Although for much of the 20th century most people regarded the Caucasus as an exotic borderland of Russia, it has been an essential part of the Middle East from the dawn of history. Its peoples are bound to those of the Middle East by language, culture, religion and civilization. Today the Caucasus is again an inextricable part of the politics of the Middle East. It is also a fiendishly complicated region. The contemporary Caucasus remains in important ways unchanged: polyglot, culturally rich, and riven by often bitter internal and external rivalries. Greenhorn and old hand alike will benefit from Charles King’s history of the Caucasus. In a single volume, he manages to pull off the seemingly impossible task of presenting a portrait of the region as a whole, and one that is wonderfully written as it simultaneously informs, entertains, challenges, and stimulates.

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Product Description

The Caucasus mountains rise at the intersection of Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. A land of astonishing natural beauty and a dizzying array of ancient cultures, the Caucasus for most of the twentieth century lay inside the Soviet Union, before movements of national liberation created newly independent countries and sparked the devastating war in Chechnya.
Combining riveting storytelling with insightful analysis, The Ghost of Freedom is the first general history of the modern Caucasus, stretching from the beginning of Russian imperial expansion up to the rise of new countries after the Soviet Union's collapse. In evocative and accessible prose, Charles King reveals how tsars, highlanders, revolutionaries, and adventurers have contributed to the fascinating history of this borderland, providing an indispensable guide to the complicated histories, politics, and cultures of this intriguing frontier. Based on new research in multiple languages, the book shows how the struggle for freedom in the mountains, hills, and plains of the Caucasus has been a perennial theme over the last two hundred years--a struggle which has led to liberation as well as to new forms of captivity. The book sheds valuable light on the origins of modern disputes, including the ongoing war in Chechnya, conflicts in Georgia and Azerbaijan, and debates over oil from the Caspian Sea and its impact on world markets.
Ranging from the salons of Russian writers to the circus sideshows of America, from the offices of European diplomats to the villages of Muslim mountaineers, The Ghost of Freedom paints a rich portrait of one of the world's most turbulent and least understood regions.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67196 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review

"In this first general history of the modern Caucasus to appear in the West...King sheds light on modern tribulations and disputes, including the ongoing war in Chechnya, the Georgian-South Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhazian conflics."--CHOICE
"It is a bold historian who writes a history of the Caucasus.... Some forty mutually unintelligible languages are spoken. Worse for anyone trying to present a coherent narrative, these disparate peoples have very different histories, and only two, the Georgians and Armenians (some would add the Azeris), have a history of statehood consistent enough to be retold as one would retell the history of a West European coutnry."--Donald Rayfield, The Times Literary Supplement
"King picks and chooses events and themes seemingly designed to give proper depth to an understanding of the fiery, violent decade and a half since the collapse of the Soviet Union."--Foreign Affairs
"Recently, a few books have been published about the Caucasus...but King's is the most comprehensive, weaving in the history of all the events from the past two centuries that shaped czarist, Soviet, and Russian relations with the region."--Library Journal
"Charles King has produced a work that is at once informative, eclectic, and immensely satisfying."--Alex van Oss, Eurasianet.org
"Recently, a few books have been published about the Caucasus,... but King's is the most comprehensive, weaving in the history of all the events from the past two centuries that shaped czarist, Soviet, and Russian relations with the region."--Library Journal
"...the different reactions of Caucasian nations to the conquests of the early nineteenth century - complicity and acceptance by the Georgians, relief by the Armenians and Ossetians, desperate surrender or flight by the Circassians, resistance to the death by Chechens and Dagestanis - are the best insight that King can offer into the diverse cultures that were incorporated into the Russian Empire or wiped out by it."--Times Literary Supplement
"Charles King's Ghost of Freedom is a work that's gripping and important, scholarly and wonderfully readable. It not only explains and analyzes one of our world's most strategic regions but also delivers all the exotic and romantic turbulence of these flamboyant warriors and poets and the extraordinary peoples of the Caucasus."-- Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Young Stalin
"In a single volume, King manages to pull off the seemingly impossible task of presenting a portrait of the region as a whole, and one that is wonderfully written as it simultaneously informs, entertains, challenges, and stimulates."--Middle East Strategy at Harvard
"This vividly written and impressively researched history is an excellent introduction to a much discussed but little understood region."-- Anatol Lieven, King's College London
"The Ghost of Freedom is a brilliant tour through the past and present of a critical borderland between East and West. Enlivened by compelling anecdotes, colorful characters, and first-hand reportage that bring the Caucasus to life, this remarkable book is a highly original and beautifully written analysis of the forces that have shaped the region, from a whirlwind of imperial conquest and nation-building to Soviet engineering, mass deportations, and the bitter consequences of imperial collapse: ethnic wars, banditry, refugees, and misrule. It is an indispensable guide to the Caucasus-- and to contemporary global affairs."-- Robert D. Crews, author of For Prophet and Tsar: Islam and Empire in Russia and Central Asia

About the Author

Charles King is Ion Ratiu Professor of Romanian Studies, Professor of International Affairs, and Professor of Government at Georgetown University. He is the author of The Black Sea: A History and The Moldovans, and his writing has appeared in The Times Literary Supplement and Foreign Affairs.

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Customer Reviews

Comprehensive Treatment of the Caucasus Region since the Middle 18th Century
Frankly, I found this book well written but on such a complex subject that it was difficult to keep in mind all the ethnic players, their situations, politics, languages and characteristics from page to page. It may be an easy read, but difficult to comprehend. I noticed that none of the other reviewers attampted to offer a brief synopsis of the chapters or contents. I won't either, since I have no idea how to briefly state what the author does in many pages and where everything seems to be in flux.

At one time the Muslim Circassians take one side and the Christian Armenians another, then twenty years later everything is reversed. I found the hodge-podge of ethnic enclaves and large number of languages, some very different from the others, various political orientations, attitudes toward slavery (that continued into the 20th century), unique off-shoots of Islam and Christianity that often seem pagan or animistic, fascinating but difficult to grasp in a single book (or in a single course of study.) The Caucasus makes the Balkans seem trivial in comparison.

Nonetheless, this work is extremely useful in bringing the reader up to date on the region and giving him an appreciation of its history and complexity. One can readily see that to choose sides is to make enemies, and with states and borders having been very recent inventions, one is cautioned to tread lightly here with one's western ideas and concepts.

I was sorry to see that the book does not go back to ancient times as the history of the Armenians and Georgia are particularly fascinating. The Armenians were a substantial power from 260BCE to 72 CE, then again from 1048 to 1375 CE. Tigranes II and later Levon I were powerful rulers and the Armenians have survived until today with their great heritage and history providing a continual source of pride.

Georgia produced one of the great warrior queens of history, Queen Tamara, from 1184 to 1212. During that time she brought Georgia to its golden age, and folklore abounds still today in the Caucasus with tales of her prowess.

More currently, the genocide inflicted on the Armenians during World War I by the Turks lays heavy on the land and prevents Turko-Armenian reconcillation. The Chechens have defied Moscow since the advent of the Soviet Union, and their resistance today is a factor of everyday life. The Ossetians are in the middle, and look to Russia as their protector. The Azerbaijans tend to look to Iran for guidance. This is not a peaceful or easily governed region.

This work is particularly important in light of recent developments where Russia invaded Georgia supposedly to aid the Ossetians. This book is highly recommended to Western readers who desire a relatively quick introduction to the Caucasus in order to understand the issues currently in the news. The reader will also come away with the realization that issues in the Caucasus are not likely to be simple or what they are said to be in soundbites.

The author is to be commended for bringing this relatively obscure corner of the world into the light where the reader can grasp the essentials of its history and characteristics.

a much needed book
The Ghost of Freedom is a much needed book about a little known region. It's ideal as an introduction to the Caucasus for the general reader who doesn't know a lot about the area.
One minor complaint is I wish the author had included more history of the Caucasus before the Russian conquest of the early 19th century. It seems all books about the region take that event as their starting point.
But that's a minor quibble. All in all a very informative book.

The Caucasus Explained
The author describes the past three centuries of the Caucasus, making sense of the bewildering patchwork of regions, ethnic areas, languages, and countries. The region was known in the 19th century as a mysterious and somewht lawless area attracting adventurers and vacationers, then became famous for beautiful women, then genocide of Armenians, and now the Russian-Chechnian conflict. The author has spent much time in the area and is on firm footing when describing recent events. There is not much about pre-18th century history, however, which is a shame because some of it is fascinating.