Review:
"Brilliant." Time "Admirable, rigorous. De Waal [is] a wise and patient reporter." The New York Review of Books "Never have all the twists and turns, sad carnage, and bullheadedness on all sides been better described-or, indeed, better explained ... Offers a deeper and more compelling account of the conflict than anyone before." Foreign Affairs "This book is a major milestone in the Western scholarship on Karabakh." Armenian Freedom Network "This book is helpful because in order to craft a final resolution to the conflict, one must understand what events transpired in the first place. De Waal's book significantly contributes to this purpose and establishes itself as one of the standard works for understanding this conflict." Parameters "Some of the most illuminating - and alarming - reading in de Waal's book includes the battle of historians and writers on both sides. They fire polemical missiles at each other through obscure history and literary journals, denigrating and, in some cases, obliterating the history and identity of the other side." Eurasianet "Only rarely does a university press publish such a gripping, poignant book as this... This is an impressive work of careful scholarship and vivid writing." Choice "De Waal is cautious, meticulous and even-handed, and the breadth of his research is remarkable. He shows real affection for the ordinary people on both sides, and restraint in dealing with the self-serving politicians and field commanders in both Armenia and Azerbaijan who used Karabakh for their own political and personal ends." Time (Europe) "Thomas De Waal gets as close as possible to the heart of the problem, and provides us with one of the most serious, to this date, description of this tragedy...A well documented and precise account." Central Eurasian Reader
Synopsis:
Consistently hailed by reviewers for its insight and even-handed approach, Black Garden is the definitive account of the bloody struggle between Armenia and Azebaijan, two former Soviet Republics. In 1991-94 the conflict become the first interstate war in the former USSR, resulting in twenty thousand deaths and one of the biggest refugee flows of modern times, leaving more than a million people homeless Part contemporary history, part reportage part political analysis, Black Garden is based on six months travelling through the south Caucasus, more than 120 original interviews, and unique primary sources, such as Polltburo archives. What emerges is a complex and subtle portrait of a beautiful and fascinating region, blighted by historical prejudice and conflict.
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