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Sunday 31 March 2013

The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus - Charles King

I found this book to be a good overview of the history of the Caucasus as a whole.  He covers the early periods, the Russian conquest, and has a few chapters on the post-Soviet situations.  It is a good introduction to the topic, and I especially appreciate that he doesn't devote too much time to the whole Shamil story (which some books tend to overdo).
I found the chapter called "The Imaginary Caucasus" interesting.  He examines the whole mythology of the Caucasus in Russian and world culture.  These kinds of discussions of colonialism and its mentality are interesting.  He draws a parallel the the American mythology of the Native Indains.

It includes an extensive bibliography for further reading.

To find:
Klaproth, Travels in the Caucasus and Georgia - 1812
Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time
Pushkin, Captive of the Caucasus
Tolstoy, The Wood-Felling (short story)
Tolstoy, The Cossaks (novella)
Freshfield, The Exploration of the Caucasus (1896)
Repentance (film) Tengiz Abuladze (Georgian)
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (film), Sergei Paradjanov (Georgian)
The Color of Pomegranates (film), Sergei Paradjanov (Georgian) - life of Sayat Nova

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