Afghanistan and Central Asia: A Modern History

By Martin McCauley

Book Overview

The Afghan crisis has grabbed the attention of the entire world, and underlined the desperate need in the West for a better understanding of the region and its challenges in the face of increasingly militant interpretations of Islam. Carved up and fought over by the British and Tsarist Russia in the nineteenth century, and under Soviet domination for much of the twentieth, the lonely passes, deserts and peoples of the five Central Asian republics have remained shrouded in obscurity. Even Afghanistan, the site of almost constant conflict since the Soviet invasion of 1978, is little known beyond the media images of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement. Martin McCauley draws on his vast knowledge of the region and its history to provide a clear and highly readable account of Afghanistan and the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tasikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, from their medieval pasts to the unpredictable present. Illuminating languages and landscapes, cultures and society, he examines the rise of militant Islam and its impact on the region, the push and pull of global economics and politics, and possibilities for stability in an inherently unstable part of the world.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 058250614X
• ISBN13: 9780582506145
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 206 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.4" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

A well written and interesting book

McCauley's portrayal of Central Asia and how it has developed begins with the Mongol hordes, and goes all the way through the Soviet takeover of the region and how the Taliban rose to power. The book flows smoothly, and is very clearly broken into several sections detailing the history, economics, and developing terrorism in each of the countries it describes. The only truly annoying thing in the format is the way the editors have taken one key sentence out of every paragraph and inserted it in the margin in a large font. It would be useful as a quick reference, but it seems forced and trivial most of the time, and is very distracting when you are just reading the book straight through, not stopping to take notes.Outside of the poor editing, the book contains tons of useful information, and is interesting without being too complex. I highly recommend it for anyone who hasn't studied the region and wants to get a good overview of what has been happening there.