Top 10 Books on the Caucasus
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The Caucasus remains as one of the most enigmatic, yet remarkable triumphs of history — its mysteries insulated by untamed wilderness, haunted by an overbearing citadel of rocky peaks, and punished by a relentless climate that greets even the most weathered nomads in extremis. Its culture inseparable from geography and its conflicts indivisible from history. The Caucasus are often obscured and obfuscated by its cascading layers of ethnolinguistic and tribal diversity, its oral traditions lost to time, and its contemporary political climate often misrepresented by malign actors or naively presented in the absence of context.
The Caucasus’ complexity and inaccessibility stumped even the most legendary of historians, with Herodotus famously declaring it “uninhabitable land” in his delineation of Ancient Aethiopia. The Greeks considered the region to be older than time itself and thus subject to a range of myths — Jason and the Argonauts sailing to Colchis in search of Phrixus and the Golden Fleece, Chiron training Achilles on the shores of the Black Sea, and even Prometheus himself still chained to the summit of Mount Kazbek in present-day Georgia.
Although the written histories of outsiders and the imported literary traditions of neighboring imperialist powers have permeated the Caucasus’ veil of relative obscurity, a dense fog of countless language barriers, historical revisionism, propaganda, and warfare still shroud its hills in darkness. This list is by no means meant to lift such a fog, but rather introduce newcomers to the beautiful, inspiring, and heartbreaking region that has entranced academics, politicians, and poets for centuries:
1. The Caucasus: An Introduction (2010); Thomas de Waal
Thomas de Waal’s The Caucasus (2010) should be a required reading for every elementary class in the anthropology, history, or politics of contemporary Eurasia. As one of the few reputable Western scholars of the region, de Waal is able to untangle the convoluted nature of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan and make the South Caucasus accessible to the general public without any previous knowledge of the region. Although this text focuses exclusively on the South Caucasus, there is no shortage of content — the endless stream of revolutions, uprisings, interethnic conflicts, names, dates, and significant events is enough to make one’s brain numb after only a few chapters. The prose is predictable and occasionally monotonous, but unparalleled in introducing this fascinating region to a casual reader. The Second Edition remains of the most effective texts for those interested in a region of increasing significance to journalists, tourists, and human rights activists alike.
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2. The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus (2017); Charles King
Charles King’s The Ghost of Freedom (2017) is also an introductory history to the Caucasus — much like de Waal’s — however King sets his narrative in the mid-18th c. and focuses on the Caucasus’ subjugation at the hands of the Russian Empire — and later Soviet Union. King’s focus on military strategy, international relations, and imperialism are useful for understanding the contemporary relationship between Russia, Turkey, Iran, and the Caucasian peoples and their diasporas. King focuses on much broader, paradigmatic events and relationships that both indirectly and directly affect the Caucasus via their imperial handlers. Although there is a noted anti-Russian bias in some of King’s work, The Ghost of Freedom (2017) is an indispensable text for those interested in a larger scale of history and imperialism’s lingering shadow in the region.
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3. Bourdieu’s Secret Admirer in the Caucasus: A World-System Biography (2005); Georgi M. Derluguian
Considered by some to be the greatest “Bourdieuesque” account of the Soviet Union’s collapse, Georgi Derluguian’s reconstructed biography of Musa Shanib’s life — from dissident intellectual in Kabardino-Balkaria to militant revolutionary in Chechnya — is a tale of the North Caucasus’ transition from the forefront of de-Stalinization of the 1960’s to a hotbed of international terrorism in the 1990’s — all set against a backdrop of self-determination, democratization, globalization, and a “shock therapy” transition to capitalism. The sociological theory presented in Bourdieu’s Secret Admirer in the Caucasus (2005) is accessible to even the most theory-resistant readers and is explained in a way that makes world-systems theory applicable to an infinite number of case studies outside of the Caucasus.
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4. The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus (1908); John F. Baddeley
John Frederick Baddeley’s The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus (1908) is the final boss of academic dives into the Caucasus — and easily the most influential, effective, and informative for armchair experts and aspiring academics alike. Baddeley’s account is exhaustive and relentless, almost mind-numbing to process at times. Baddeley’s work should be treated with great care and patience — although qualified and contextualized in his time period — and approached with a degree of sincerity that is reflective of a genuine interest in the Caucasus. This was simply the most in-depth survey of the region at the time and still unrivaled by most contemporary academics. The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus (1908) is sometimes difficult and confusing, but underneath its endless sea of research and impenetrable tsikhe of endnotes, names, and dates is a wealth of knowledge about the region that is still unparalleled over a century later.
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5. Let Our Fame Be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant People of the Caucasus (2010); Oliver Bullough
Bullough’s Let Our Fame Be Great (2010) is a heartbreaking account of the genocides, forced displacements, and internal deportations perpetrated by the Russian Empire and its successors in the North Caucasus — primarily Chechnya. Bullough’s narrative is reinforced by extensive archival research, interviews and field work, media analyses, and more. Let Our Fame Be Great (2010) is a powerful work of academic history that humanizes the victims of Russian interventions in the North Caucasus and makes a strong case for Chechen autonomy, national identity, and collective memory.
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6. Nart Sagas of the Caucasus: Myths and Legends from the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs (2002); John Colarusso
As we move from non-fiction to folklore/literature, it is important to note that the largest ethnolinguistic groups in the Caucasus that give political entities their names (i.e. Georgians, Armenians, Chechens, etc.) are by no means the only groups indigenous to the region. In fact, compared to the 50+ language families, innumerable tribal affiliations, and foreign diaspora groups (i.e. Greeks, Russians, Arabs, etc.) in the Caucasus, the stately groups are vastly outnumbered in comparison to “minority” populations. Inversely, there are major diaspora populations of indigenous Caucasian groups scattered around the world that weave an interconnected, international fabric of identity that shapes these groups’ collective mythology. Circassians in Turkey, Chechens in Jordan, Armenians in the United States — just to name a few — all have their own distinct identity.
What John Colarusso does so well is he takes these fabled “minority” groups, such as the Abkhaz, Ubykhs, Ossetians, Lezgians, and so on, and presents to us translated collections of folklore that are integral to understanding the cultural traditions, spirituality, and identities that subsequently inform struggles for autonomy, self-determination, and perseverance in the face of globalization, cultural imperialism, and erasure. Nart Sagas of the Caucasus (2002) is an essential reading for those interested in understanding the monumental cultural differences between the lesser-studied groups of the Caucasus and their larger neighbors.
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7. A Hero of Our Time (1840); Mikhail Lermontov
Arguably the most famous entry on this list — and one of the most read works of Russian fiction period — A Hero of Our Time (1840) by Mikhail Lermontov transcends a general interest in the Caucasus and situates itself amongst the greatest works in world literature. The story of Pechorin is part romantic drama, part Caucasus travelogue, and part action-adventure psychological thriller that burrows into the mind of the titular antihero while bridging the gap between poetry and prose as seamlessly as possible. Whether A Hero of Our Time (1840) is semi-autobiographical is up for debate, but its influence on the 19th c. Russian perception of the Caucasus and the region’s place in literature is undeniable.
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8. The Cossacks and Other Stories (2007); Leo Tolstoy
It is no secret that Leo Tolstoy was fascinated by the Caucasus for the vast majority of his life after being stationed with his brother Nicholas in present-day Chechnya while serving in the Russian military. In fact, he even began his writing career while living amongst the Terek Cossacks in the village of Starogladkovskaya. Some of his most famous short stories and novellas, including The Prisoner of the Caucasus (1872), The Cossacks (1863), The Sevastopol Sketches (1855), and Hadji Murat (1912) either make direct references to his experiences or use the Caucasus as a primary setting for the narrative — the latter three of which are contained in his The Cossacks and Other Stories (2007) collection. Among these, stories like Hadji Murat (1912) rank amongst Tolstoy’s most famous works and are fundamental to understanding the Caucasus’ place in the mindset of an outsider.
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9. Ali & Nino (1937); Kurban Said
A romantic drama of the emotional ties between a Muslim Azerbaijani man and Christian Georgian woman in Baku — and now an internationally acclaimed motion picture — Ali & Nino (1937) gracefully dissects the cultural nuances and barriers of interethnic and interfaith relationships in pre-Soviet Azerbaijan. The anonymous, pseudonymous author behind the identity of “Kurban Said” treats the characters of Ali and Nino with such care while contextualizing their relationship in the political atmosphere of the time — characterized by the Bolshevik Revolution, the short-lived Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, and the establishment of communist rule in the South Caucasus. Ali & Nino (1937) is a required reading for anyone that is interested in the culture and politics of the region between the collapse of the Russian Empire and the rise of the Soviet Union in the South Caucasus.
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10. Slavs and Tatars Presents Molla Nasreddin: the magazine that would’ve, could’ve, should’ve (2010); Slavs and Tatars
Indispensable, essential, and often misunderstood — Molla Nasreddin was a satirical periodical that was published in the South Caucasus between 1906 and 1933. When it comes to English-language primary sources that give us a glimpse into the political atmosphere of the Caucasus in the early 20th c., Slavs and Tatars Presents Molla Nasreddin (2010) is single-most vital collection of the publication’s most significant comics which satirize Caucasian culture with a level of self-deprecation, self-respect, and self-awareness that can only be achieved by the time period and political context in which they were written. This is an important resource for those interested in the political culture of the South Caucasus and, in my opinion, a great source of dark comedy and satire that is more-often-than-not humorous.
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Alexander Leslie is a foreign policy analyst, freelance journalist, and has an M.A. in Eurasian, Russian, & East European Studies from Georgetown University. His interests include U.S.-Georgia relations, energy politics, and studies in counterterrorism policy.
Contact: aejleslie@gmail.com
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