In “Zapata and the Mexican Revolution”, John Womack, Jr., provides an incredibly detailed history of the activities of Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919) during the Mexican Revolution (1910-20). As someone that is not that familiar with either Zapata or the Mexican Revolution, I found this book a bit overwhelming! There is so much information that it wasContinueContinue reading “Review: “Zapata and the Mexican Revolution” – John Womack, Jr.”
Tag Archives: Book Review
Review: “Cuba & Angola: The War for Freedom” – Harry “Pombo” Villegas
“Cuba & Angola: The War for Freedom” is a firsthand account of Cuba’s internationalist mission in Angola. Within months of achieving independence from Portugal after more than 400 years of colonial rule, Angola was attacked by Zairean and South African forces and mercenaries. Between 1975-91, in response to a call for assistance by Angola’s leaders,ContinueContinue reading “Review: “Cuba & Angola: The War for Freedom” – Harry “Pombo” Villegas”
Review: “How the National Question was Solved in Soviet Central Asia (A Reply to Falsifiers)” – R. Tuzmuhamedov
R. Tuzmuhamedov’s “How the National Question was Solved in Soviet Central Asia” offers a superb analysis of the socialist transformation of Soviet Central Asia. Most of the book is what you would expect from something published by Progress Publishers: constant praise for Lenin and the Great October Socialist Revolution (not that I think that’s aContinueContinue reading “Review: “How the National Question was Solved in Soviet Central Asia (A Reply to Falsifiers)” – R. Tuzmuhamedov”
Review: “Tajikistan: A Political and Social History” – Kirill Nourzhanov and Christian Bleuer
Kirill Nourzhanov and Christian Bleuer’s “Tajikistan: A Political and Social History” offers the most comprehensive analysis of the history of Tajikistan that I have ever read. The main purpose of the book is to understand the causes of the Tajik Civil War (1992-97), one of the deadliest conflicts in the former USSR. More specifically, NourzhanovContinueContinue reading “Review: “Tajikistan: A Political and Social History” – Kirill Nourzhanov and Christian Bleuer”
Review: “A History Of The Ogaden (Western Somali) Struggle For Self Determination” – Mohamed Mohamud Abdi
Mohamed Mohamud Abdi’s “A History of the Ogaden (Western Somali) Struggle for Self-Determination” examines the history of the Somali people’s struggle for self-determination from Ethiopia and the reunification of all Somali lands (Kenya’s NFD, Ethiopia’s Ogaden, Djibouti, and Somalia). Abdi, an economist by training and a refugee from the Ogaden, starts by providing a historicalContinueContinue reading “Review: “A History Of The Ogaden (Western Somali) Struggle For Self Determination” – Mohamed Mohamud Abdi”
Review: “Third World Colonialism and Strategies of Liberation: Eritrea and East Timor Compared” – Awet Tewelde Weldemichael
Professor Awet Tewelde Weldemichael’s “Third World Colonialism and Strategies of Liberation: Eritrea and East Timor Compared” offers an excellent and unique analysis of Third World ‘secondary colonialism’ — when former colonial territories, namely Ethiopia and Indonesia, become themselves the colonizers, in this case of Eritrea and East Timor, respectively. Weldemichael’s primary object of investigation isContinueContinue reading “Review: “Third World Colonialism and Strategies of Liberation: Eritrea and East Timor Compared” – Awet Tewelde Weldemichael”
Review: “The Baloch and Balochistan: A Historical Account from the Beginning to the Fall of the Baloch State” – Naseer Dashti
Naseer Dashti’s “The Baloch and Balochistan: A Historical Account from the Beginning to the fall of the Baloch State” is an absolutely outstanding scholarly work not only on the Baloch people and Balochistan, but of the whole Middle East, South and Central Asia. In the first part of the book, Dashti, who holds a Ph.D.ContinueContinue reading “Review: “The Baloch and Balochistan: A Historical Account from the Beginning to the Fall of the Baloch State” – Naseer Dashti”
Review: “Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in the South Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh and the Legacy of Soviet Nationalities Policy” – Ohannes Geukjian
Ohannes Geukjian’s “Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in the South Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh and the Legacy of Soviet Nationalities Policy” offers a comprehensive and rather unique analysis of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and Soviet nationalities policy in the South Caucasus. A professor at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, Geukjian’s analysis of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is unique inContinueContinue reading “Review: “Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in the South Caucasus: Nagorno-Karabakh and the Legacy of Soviet Nationalities Policy” – Ohannes Geukjian”
Review: “Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present” – Jonathan L. Lee
Jonathan L. Lee’s “Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present” is one of the best histories of Afghanistan I’ve ever read, and easily the most comprehensive. I think only Y. V. Gankovsky’s “A History of Afghanistan” (1982) is better, but that might be because Gankovsky was a Soviet scholar on Afghanistan ;). Lee isContinueContinue reading “Review: “Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present” – Jonathan L. Lee”
Review: “Armenia’s Future Relations with Turkey and the Karabagh Conflict” – Levon Ter-Petrossian
This book is a collection of articles and speeches by Levon Ter-Petrossian, the first president of post-Soviet Armenia (1991-98). Ter-Petrossian is a anti-socialist, Western-style neoliberal, who was “close friends” with Russia’s Boris Yeltsin. But as much as I disagree – or more accurately vehemently oppose – his politics, in his analysis of Armenia’s relations withContinueContinue reading “Review: “Armenia’s Future Relations with Turkey and the Karabagh Conflict” – Levon Ter-Petrossian”
Review: “Contested Territories and International Law: A Comparative Study of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and the Aland Islands Precedent” – Kamal Makili-Aliyev
When Kamal Makili-Aliyev’s “Contested Territories and International Law: A Comparative Study of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and the Aland Islands Precedent” arrived in the mail, I was really, really excited to read it. I thought – and still do think – that comparing the disputes between the Aland Islands and Nagorno-Karabakh was a brilliant and novelContinueContinue reading “Review: “Contested Territories and International Law: A Comparative Study of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and the Aland Islands Precedent” – Kamal Makili-Aliyev”
Review: “The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Legal Analysis” – Heiko Kruger
Heiko Kruger’s “The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Legal Analysis” is the worst book on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that I have read, right next to Bahruz Balayev’s “The Right to Self-Determination in the South Caucasus”. Instead of being an objective legal analysis of Nagorno-Karabakh’s right to secession under international law, Kruger’s book is imperialist apologeticism and ArmenophobiaContinueContinue reading “Review: “The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Legal Analysis” – Heiko Kruger”
Review: “Self-Determination of Peoples: A Legal Reappraisal” – Antonio Cassese
Antonio Cassese’s “Self-Determination of Peoples: A Legal Reappraisal” is an excellent legal analysis of the evolution and application of the right of peoples to self-determination in international law. The first chapter examines the origins of the right of peoples to self-determination in the American Declaration of Independence (1776) and especially in the French Revolution (1789).ContinueContinue reading “Review: “Self-Determination of Peoples: A Legal Reappraisal” – Antonio Cassese”
Review: “The Armenians” – John M. Douglas
John M. Douglas’s “The Armenians” is an outstanding history of the Armenian people, from the Armenian people’s ancient Thraco-Phrygian and Urartian origins in the 9th century BC, to the social, economic, and political struggles of the Republic of Armenia in the mid-1990s. What really surprised me reading this book was how involved Armenians have beenContinueContinue reading “Review: “The Armenians” – John M. Douglas”
Review: “Greece, 1941-49: From Resistance to Civil War: The Strategy of the Greek Communist Party” – Haris Vlavianos
Haris Vlavianos’s “Greece, 1941-49: From Resistance to Civil War: The Strategy of the Greek Communist Party” offers what I think is probably the most comprehensive and least biased historical analysis of the KKE during the Nazi occupation of Greece and the Greek Civil War (1943-49). Did the KKE deliberately start the civil war to seizeContinueContinue reading “Review: “Greece, 1941-49: From Resistance to Civil War: The Strategy of the Greek Communist Party” – Haris Vlavianos”
Review: “The Making of Informal States: Statebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria” – Daria Isachenko
“The Making of Informal States: Statebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria” by Daria Isachenko offers a very unique analysis of the conflict in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria. Isachenko uses Norbert Elias’ theory of figurational sociology, a research tradition in which figurations of humans — evolving networks of interdependent humans — are the unit of investigation,ContinueContinue reading “Review: “The Making of Informal States: Statebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria” – Daria Isachenko”
Review: “Discordant Neighbours: A Reassessment of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian Conflicts” – B. George Hewitt
George Hewitt’s “Discordant Neighbours: A Reassessment of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian Conflicts” is the most authoritative account of the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, especially since the ‘Five-Day War’ in August 2008. In this book Hewitt takes aim at many of the myths propagated by Georgia and its Western allies that Abkhazia andContinueContinue reading “Review: “Discordant Neighbours: A Reassessment of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian Conflicts” – B. George Hewitt”
Review: “Understanding Ethnopolitical Conflict: Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia Wars Reconsidered” – Emil Souleimanov
Emil Souleimanov’s “Understanding Ethnopolitical Conflict: Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia Wars Reconsidered” offers an excellent theoretical and methodological analysis of the ethnic conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia. Souleimanov ‘tests’ the efficacy of the major on-set and in-process theories of the origins of ethnic conflicts and civil wars, including the role of elites, naturalContinueContinue reading “Review: “Understanding Ethnopolitical Conflict: Karabakh, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia Wars Reconsidered” – Emil Souleimanov”
Review: “The Origins of Ethnic Conflict in Africa: Politics and Violence in Darfur, Oromia, and the Tana Delta” – Tsega Etefa
Tsega Etefa’s “The Origins of Ethnic Conflict in Africa” offers a comprehensive analysis of the root causes of ethnic conflict in Africa. In the three cases studies examined in the book — the Arab-non-Arab conflict in Darfur, the Oromo-Pokomo conflict in Kenya’s Tana Delta, and the Gumuz-Oromo conflict in Ethiopia’s Oromia state — Etefa convincinglyContinueContinue reading “Review: “The Origins of Ethnic Conflict in Africa: Politics and Violence in Darfur, Oromia, and the Tana Delta” – Tsega Etefa”
Review: “The Politics of Ethnic Separatism in Russia and Georgia” – Julie A. George
Julie George’s “The Politics of Ethnic Separatism in Russia and Georgia” examines the factors that contributed to the decision of ethnic and regional leaders in both countries to pursue violent or non-violent strategies to achieve their political, economic, and personal goals.On the one hand, Georgie examines the factors that contributed to the strategies pursued byContinueContinue reading “Review: “The Politics of Ethnic Separatism in Russia and Georgia” – Julie A. George”
T. J. Petrowski 