Synopses & Reviews
The author of
Tournament of Shadows examines the historical impact of the Western encounter with Central Asia's fragile and volatile nations, spelling out the implication for the United States and its allies today.
When Charles de Gaulle learned that France's former colonies in Africa had chosen independence, the great general shrugged dismissively, "They are the dust of empire." But as Americans have learned, particles of dust from a remote and seemingly medieval country like Afghanistan can, at great human and material cost, jam the gears of a superpower. In The Dust of Empire, Karl E. Meyer examines the present and past of the Asian heartland in a book that blends scholarship with reportage, providing fascinating detail about regions and peoples now of urgent concern to America: the five Central Asian republics, the Caspian and the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and long-dominant Russia. He provides the context for America's post-9/11 war on terrorism, for Washington's search for friends and allies in an Islamic world rife with extremism, and for the new politics of pipelines and human rights in an area possessing more of the former than the latter. He offers a rich and complicated tapestry of a region where empires have so often come to grief a cautionary tale for Americans and their Western allies.
Review
"Karl E. Meyer's new book is not only readable and well informed but timely to an almost painful degree." Geoffrey Wheatcroft, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Meyer's treatment of the countries under discussion is inconsistent. In some cases, he offers a succinct summary of relevant political events, whereas other histories are more arbitrary and less structured....Meyer intends to 'sharpen' the reader's appetite, and interested readers will take the book for what it is a compelling yet cursory introduction to a fascinating region..." Publishers Weekly
Review
"A timely analysis of an era likely to be the focus of American concerns for a long time." Booklist
Review
"Meyer adroitly shows how great power rivalry, and especially Cold War politics, shaped such events as the creation of Pakistan, American-Iranian relations, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan....This book is particularly useful to those attempting to understand contemporary events." Library Journal
Synopsis
The author of Tournament of Shadows examines the historical impact of the Western encounter with Central Asia's fragile and volatile nations, spelling out the implications for the United States and its allies today. Photos.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [225]-234) and index.
Table of Contents
Pax Britannica, squared -- Patterns of mastery, British and American -- Russia: The long talons of memory -- Iran: The agonies of non-sovereignity -- Pakistan: Sins of partition -- Afghanistan: In a dark defile -- The Caucasus: A bedlam of identity -- Central Asia: Invented states, real godfathers -- "What is to be done?"