gatun's review against another edition
5.0
The Ghost of Freedom
A History of the Caucasus
Author Charles King
Narrated by Michael Page
Publication date May 23, 2017
Running time 12 hrs
Courtesy Tantor Media
At 54 and with chronic health conditions, I know I will never have the opportunity to travel to the many wondrous places on our planet I would like. I have found that learning about those far off lands is fascinating and fulfilling. I recently listened to audiobooks on India and Scandinavia. Next up is the Caucasus. Again I was not disappointed in my audiobook adventure.
The Caucasus is still a remote and wild region on the world map. It sits at a crossroad between Europe and Asia, an isthmus between the Black and Caspian seas. The Greeks chained Prometheus up in the Caucasus to have his liver devoured each day by the eagle for giving man fire. Ovid, the Roman poet, had Jason said to the Caucasus, the end of the known world, to steal the Golden Fleece. The regions lends itself well to mythologies with its blend of beauty and danger. It is a land that has been contested and fought over for centuries. The original tribes who settled the area gave dynastic giants like the Russian and Turkish Empires more than they could handle.
The Ghost of Freedom A History of the Caucasus by Charles King and narrated by Michael Page does justice to this incredible region. King starts with a forward which explains the importance of words in the region. “In a part of the world where ethnic, religious, and political categories are hotly contested, being sensitive to labels is particularly crucial.” He then provides a in depth chronology of the history of the area as well as a glossary of words related to the area. The words are influenced by the original tribal languages as well as successive waves of conquerors from Russia, Turkey and others. I want to point out how incredible Mr. Page’s narration is concerning the many, many foreign words. Had I read the book, my eyes would have skimmed over the unpronounceable, for me, and in doing so I would have lost a part of the book. Listening to Mr. Page’s confident pronunciation conveys the rich of the words and helps spin the spell of foreign lands.
The books leads the listener through the history of the Caucasus region from the first recorded Russian foray in the mid sixteenth century to the early twenty first century struggle to emerge from the shadow of the former Soviet Union into individual nations. This is an audiobook I will listen to again. Mr. King’s storytelling on the history of the region is complex, vast and accessible. Coupled with Mr. Page’s incredible narration, the audiobook is a entertaining, educational and fascinating experience.
A History of the Caucasus
Author Charles King
Narrated by Michael Page
Publication date May 23, 2017
Running time 12 hrs
Courtesy Tantor Media
At 54 and with chronic health conditions, I know I will never have the opportunity to travel to the many wondrous places on our planet I would like. I have found that learning about those far off lands is fascinating and fulfilling. I recently listened to audiobooks on India and Scandinavia. Next up is the Caucasus. Again I was not disappointed in my audiobook adventure.
The Caucasus is still a remote and wild region on the world map. It sits at a crossroad between Europe and Asia, an isthmus between the Black and Caspian seas. The Greeks chained Prometheus up in the Caucasus to have his liver devoured each day by the eagle for giving man fire. Ovid, the Roman poet, had Jason said to the Caucasus, the end of the known world, to steal the Golden Fleece. The regions lends itself well to mythologies with its blend of beauty and danger. It is a land that has been contested and fought over for centuries. The original tribes who settled the area gave dynastic giants like the Russian and Turkish Empires more than they could handle.
The Ghost of Freedom A History of the Caucasus by Charles King and narrated by Michael Page does justice to this incredible region. King starts with a forward which explains the importance of words in the region. “In a part of the world where ethnic, religious, and political categories are hotly contested, being sensitive to labels is particularly crucial.” He then provides a in depth chronology of the history of the area as well as a glossary of words related to the area. The words are influenced by the original tribal languages as well as successive waves of conquerors from Russia, Turkey and others. I want to point out how incredible Mr. Page’s narration is concerning the many, many foreign words. Had I read the book, my eyes would have skimmed over the unpronounceable, for me, and in doing so I would have lost a part of the book. Listening to Mr. Page’s confident pronunciation conveys the rich of the words and helps spin the spell of foreign lands.
The books leads the listener through the history of the Caucasus region from the first recorded Russian foray in the mid sixteenth century to the early twenty first century struggle to emerge from the shadow of the former Soviet Union into individual nations. This is an audiobook I will listen to again. Mr. King’s storytelling on the history of the region is complex, vast and accessible. Coupled with Mr. Page’s incredible narration, the audiobook is a entertaining, educational and fascinating experience.
orchardoriole's review against another edition
2.0
I got it in my head it would be fun to read a book set in every country in the world. My first step was to decide what I would treat as a country for my project, since, though I know very little about international politics, I know that what is and is not a country is often a point of considerable contention. In the end, I decided that if Wikipedia says that a place is considered by a country by itself and at least one other country, it’s a country.
Yes, I realize that definition would cause international incidents, but, whatever. I’m not a governing body; I’m a person in her pajamas reading some books.
So, that means, alphabetically, my first country is...Abkhazia!
The original plan was to read fiction books set in each country, but it turns out there is not much fiction to be found about Abkhazia. Not much recreational nonfiction either, so this one about the Caucasus region generally was the best I could do.
The majority of this book was not for me. Most of it was taken up with accounts of military and political maneuvers, in which various regions were transferred to and from various powers, sometimes briefly becoming independent between the transfers. I imagine this is well written, but, at least for me, it’s often very dry reading.
I did learn that, for most of modern history, being an average resident of the Caucasus would be a very, very bad deal. There were often forced mass migrations and genocides, which were, of course, gruesome and tragic. In some cases, the people being forcibly moved away from a location were the same people whose grandparents had been forcibly moved to the same location by a different power a few generations before.
Also, the environment itself took a considerable beating. At one point in the 1800s, the Russian army was at a disadvantage against local forces who were familiar with the landscape of the forests, so the Russian army just clearcut huge swaths of land.
The middle third of the book focused more on culture, so that was more interesting for me. I learned about the fate of women who were kidnapped to be slaves, and about literature written about the Caucasus, and about the time in the 1890s when the Caucasus mountains became the trendy place to travel for wealthy European sportsmen.
Also, randomly, the book contained this sentence about the Caucasus people: “They were also extremely sexy.” Say what now? But yes, apparently, “Circassian women” were a popular draw at PT Barnum shows, where they would tell about their daring adventures. They were supposed to be the epitome of female beauty. At the shows, the quotes around “Circassian” were very much of the ironic variety. The women were generally American actors, but the popular perception about women of the Caucasus remained.
Typing all of these things, I’m realizing that even the chapter on culture is about what other people said and did about the Caucasus. The sections on the mountains are about the Europeans, and the sections on the captured slave women are mostly about the captors, and one of the most popular pieces of literature was an tragic romantic epic poem, written by a guy who had only kinda sorta been to the region. And the accounts of political and military maneuvering are mostly about the powers who claimed the land, not the people who lived in the land that was claimed.
So, hmmm. I guess this is mostly a book about what people outside the Caucasus have said and done about the Caucasus.
Yes, I realize that definition would cause international incidents, but, whatever. I’m not a governing body; I’m a person in her pajamas reading some books.
So, that means, alphabetically, my first country is...Abkhazia!
The original plan was to read fiction books set in each country, but it turns out there is not much fiction to be found about Abkhazia. Not much recreational nonfiction either, so this one about the Caucasus region generally was the best I could do.
The majority of this book was not for me. Most of it was taken up with accounts of military and political maneuvers, in which various regions were transferred to and from various powers, sometimes briefly becoming independent between the transfers. I imagine this is well written, but, at least for me, it’s often very dry reading.
I did learn that, for most of modern history, being an average resident of the Caucasus would be a very, very bad deal. There were often forced mass migrations and genocides, which were, of course, gruesome and tragic. In some cases, the people being forcibly moved away from a location were the same people whose grandparents had been forcibly moved to the same location by a different power a few generations before.
Also, the environment itself took a considerable beating. At one point in the 1800s, the Russian army was at a disadvantage against local forces who were familiar with the landscape of the forests, so the Russian army just clearcut huge swaths of land.
The middle third of the book focused more on culture, so that was more interesting for me. I learned about the fate of women who were kidnapped to be slaves, and about literature written about the Caucasus, and about the time in the 1890s when the Caucasus mountains became the trendy place to travel for wealthy European sportsmen.
Also, randomly, the book contained this sentence about the Caucasus people: “They were also extremely sexy.” Say what now? But yes, apparently, “Circassian women” were a popular draw at PT Barnum shows, where they would tell about their daring adventures. They were supposed to be the epitome of female beauty. At the shows, the quotes around “Circassian” were very much of the ironic variety. The women were generally American actors, but the popular perception about women of the Caucasus remained.
Typing all of these things, I’m realizing that even the chapter on culture is about what other people said and did about the Caucasus. The sections on the mountains are about the Europeans, and the sections on the captured slave women are mostly about the captors, and one of the most popular pieces of literature was an tragic romantic epic poem, written by a guy who had only kinda sorta been to the region. And the accounts of political and military maneuvering are mostly about the powers who claimed the land, not the people who lived in the land that was claimed.
So, hmmm. I guess this is mostly a book about what people outside the Caucasus have said and done about the Caucasus.
pearseanderson's review against another edition
3.0
I started this on the plane home from Italy, and six months later I almost dozed off trying to get through the conclusion to this piece. The history was dense, intense, and full of names and places, but often frustratingly so. I'm not sure how much I learned by the end, and how much this could have taught me. The pacing was strange (but the reveal that 25% of the book was notes and indexes was SO lovely when I realized how close I was to finishing) and the jumps between sections or types of history (mountaineering to political, without stopping over at economic or feminist histories) was also strange. 6/10.
mikeblyth's review against another edition
4.0
Informative history, decently written, not a page-turner. But now 95% of what I know about the Caucasus region (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Ossetia, the Circassians and so on) is what I gleaned from this book.
undinecerelia's review against another edition
5.0
This is great! Highly recommended. Full thoughts here: https://cookiesandthecaucasus.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/book-review-the-ghost-of-freedom/
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