Product Description

Providing the first comprehensive cultural and historical introduction to modern Georgia, Peter Nasmyth charts the nation's remarkable journey to statehood, giving extraordinary insights into this facsinating region.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #349402 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review

‘Indispensable to all serious travellers to the Caucasus’ - Lesley Chamberlain, Times Literary Supplement.

'Nasmyth is an ideal chronicler. It would be difficult to read his quirky, entertaining, informative, sometimes surreal book without having an impulse to ring a travel agent and ask for flights to Tbilisi' - D.M. Thomas, Literary Review.

‘Peter Nasmyth has written the elegiac, quirky, readable, deeply knowledgeable Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry, the best cultural-historical introduction to that tempestuous land’ – Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Daily Telegraph.

‘…the revised edition of his [Peter Nasmyth’s] Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry reasserts his position as author of the best book on post-Soviet Georgia’ - Michael Church, The Independent.

‘The result is a lively, perceptive, topical book…’ – Fitzroy Maclean, Times Literary Supplement.

‘Indispensable to all serious travellers to the Caucasus’ - Lesley Chamberlain, Times Literary Supplement.

'Nasmyth is an ideal chronicler. It would be difficult to read his quirky, entertaining, informative, sometimes surreal book without having an impulse to ring a travel agent and ask for flights to Tbilisi' - D.M. Thomas, Literary Review.

‘Peter Nasmyth has written the elegiac, quirky, readable, deeply knowledgeable Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry, the best cultural-historical introduction to that tempestuous land’ – Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Daily Telegraph.

‘…the revised edition of his [Peter Nasmyth’s] Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry reasserts his position as author of the best book on post-Soviet Georgia’ - Michael Church, The Independent.

‘The result is a lively, perceptive, topical book…’ – Fitzroy Maclean, Times Literary Supplement.

From the Back Cover

First published in 1998 this book has become one of the comprehensive cultural and historical introductions to modern Georgia. This, its third edition, brings its drama-rich story up to date. Covering the country region by region in the form of a literary journey, the book carefully selects the events - all eyewitnessed - that steered Georgia through its transition from Soviet republic to independent democracy, then more recently its Rose Revolution.

But underlying the modern nation state is a recorded history that stretches back nearly 3,000 years. Georgia converted to Christianity in 330AD, and its Bagrati monarchy endured for over 1,000 years. Embracing Russian rule in the late 18th century, the Bolsheviks would then wrench Menshevik Georgia into their fold in 1921. But vigorous repression still failed to eradicate Georgia's strong sense of nationhood. This lively and topical book is careful to present the culture, religion and mythology that sustained Georgia's remarkable survival up and into its contemporary statehood.

Travelling extensively across the whole Caucasus over a period of nineteen years, Peter Nasmyth offers an authoritative and dynamic text is based on hundreds of wide-ranging interviews. This much-expanded new edition will be essential reading for anyone interested in this strategically important region, as well as for students and researchers requiring a practical insight into life in what was the Soviet Union's richest and most coveted republic.

About the Author

Peter Nasmyth's writings and photographs on the Caucasus region have been published in most major UK magazines and newspapers. He has also written for several in American publications, including the Washington Post. Since his first visit to Georgia in 1987 he has also developed several broadcast projects in the region and been nominated for the United Nations Media Peace Prize by the BBC. Alongside this he also started a charity, 'Children of the Caucasus;' been a director of Georgia's first international arts festival, GIFT in 1997; curated the exhibition 'The Wardrops, a Legacy of Britain in Georgia' - for the British Council and Foreign Office; and in 1999 co-founded the first English language bookshop in Tbilisi. He presently lives between London and Tbilisi.

Customer Reviews

An excellent, in-depth introduction to Georgia
I have read this book before leaving for a long trip to Georgia, and it has given me an incredible insight into the country, the people, and its troubled history from 1990-98.

It is very pleasing to read as such, wether you are planning to go to Georgia or not. Despite it not being a travel guide, it helped me a lot to get a feeling for the very special Georgian atmosphere, and to know how to live and "behave" in Georgia.

The author, a journalist who has worked there in the past decade, writes almost all of his text from first-hand experience, and gives a very good idea of the diversity found in the different regions of Georgia.

If you read this book, you will want to go there!

indispensible travel guide
Nasmyth writes a wonderful travellers account mixing descriptions of then recently post Soviet Georgia with a Historians eye for unearthing all of Georgias significant historical events of interest to the casual reader.
What emerges is a roguishly lovable and chaotic country at the point of a radical departure from the Communist system into the Post-Soviet space. Georgia is still finding its way with success and failure admirable qualities of the efforts at serious reform.
Nasymth describes cultural traditions by personal experience- groaning tables of endless dishes feasted and washed down with wine and endless speeches. The Tamada or toastmaster leading the party in eulogies to family, friends, country and all things toastable.
Nasymth covers all the regions with both historical and modern perspectives. The War in Abkhazia is discussed from a recent historical perspective and Nasymth at that time was well informed on leading personalities of the day.
With a wide ranging bibliography, this book will whet the readers appetite, probably as a lifelong interest, in this fascinating region with its rich and varied cultures. Enter at your own risk!