Drawing on his experiences
as a traveller in Azerbaijan and as a resident in Baku, Jason Thomson paints a
fascinating portrait of a country emerging from the trauma of its Soviet past.
Amid vivid descriptions of striking Azeri landscapes, from the mud-belching deserts
of Gobustan to the snow-capped peaks of the Greater Caucasus, Thomson enters an
exotic world inhabited by the likes of eccentric artists, local policemen who
lord over their mountain village fiefdoms and a host of other memorable characters.
Meanwhile detours to far-flung points on the post-Soviet map offer insights into
life in Georgia, Moscow and the young republics of Central Asia. As well
as providing an account of Azerbaijan's history, culture and politics, Thomson
explores a range of topical and controversial issues that have wider implications
for the regions of the Caucasus and Central Asia - including the post-independence
economic melt-down, the abandonment of social programmes, the humanitarian consequences
of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the tangled geopolitics of Caspian oil and
gas. 352 pages with Illustrations
Published
by Bennett & Bloom , 2005
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