Along the banks of the river once called Oxus lie the heartlands of Central Asia: Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Catapulted into the news by events in Afghanistan, just across the water, these strategically important, intriguing and beautiful countries remain almost completely unknown to the outside world. One diligent seminary student in the holy city of Bukhara was exhiled to Siberia as a shepherd in the 1917 revolution and then conscripted into the Red Army. Tens of thousands of Poles walked and rode through Central Asia on their way to a new life in Iran. In this region, the extraordinary is commonplace and there is not a family without a remarkable story to tell. Here Monica Whitlock goes far beyond the headlines. Using eyewitness accounts, unpublished letters and first-hand reporting, she enteres into the lives of the Central Asians and reveals a dramatic and moving story unfolding over three generations. Beyond the Oxus is both a chronicle of a century and a clear-eyed, authoritative view of contemporary events, taking us beyond the common cliches and prejudices about both the Soviet Union and the Muslim world.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
'An intimate and beautifully constructed history - often drawn from eyewitness accounts and unpublished documents - of a region which remains stubbornly obscure' -- Colin Thubron, Sunday Telegraph - Books of the Yea 'This is a fascinating and thoroughly readable account. Rich in drama and detail, it succeeds triumphantly' -- Tribune 'An admirable insight into the personal lives of the Uzbeks and Tajiks in the upheavals of the Soviet and post-Soviet age ... a series of intimate portraits of Central Asian Muslims over three generations that makes us sit up and take note. Monica Whitlock speaks for the common man ... her story should be read' -- Antony Wynn, Cornucopia 20030224 'A compelling book that lives on after the last page has been turned' -- Asian Affairs 20030224 'The most significant and thorough book available in English on Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Izbekistan' -- Irish Times 20030224 'A work rich in both historical insight and emotional depth, it offers an extraordinarily three-dimensional portrait of a region and its people' -- Scotsman 20030224 'Told in the plain and unegotistical voice of the BBC World Service correspondent, Whitlock offers ... somewhere in which countries can understand themselves through the devotion fo outsiders to local detail. That voice of the true correspondent is most often present in asides, and Whitlock's like her book, are exceptional' -- Times Literary Supplement 20030224 'At last, Central Asia has the book in English that its importance demands. Monica Whitlock writes attractively, humanely and with considerable sensitivity. This is a compelling account, by someone who knows her subject thoroughly.' -- John Simpson 20030224
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Illustrationen
16 pp B/W photos plus maps
Maße
Höhe: 23 mm
Breite: 165 mm
Dicke: 242 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-7195-6402-4 (9780719564024)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Monica Whitlock has worked for the BBC World Service since 1991. She first went to Afghanistan in 1992 and was the BBC Central Asia correspondent from 1995 to 1998, with offices in Tashkent, Dushanbe and Almaty. Since then she has reported from Iran and Syria and returned to Central Asia several times, reporting from Dushanbe and Tashkent in the immediate aftermath of the attacks in the United States of September 2001. She now lives in London.
The setting - the shrine of al-Hakim of Termez: witnesses and actors; journeys in the dark - the migration across the Amu; the world turned upside-down; a town called Monday; "a Paradise on earth"; "Why were we there?" - Afghanistan; "What is to become of us?"; kartoshka, kartushka - war in Tajikistan; on both sides of the Amu; a year in Tashkent; what happened in Mazar-e Sharif; the Glinka Street plot; what tomorrow brings.
