- 324 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
Central Asia has long stood at the crossroads of history. It was the staging ground for the armies of the Mongol Empire, for the nineteenth-century struggle between the Russian and British empires, and for the NATO campaign in Afghanistan. Today, multinationals and nations compete for the oil and gas reserves of the Caspian Sea and for control of the pipelines. Yet "Stanland" is still, to many, a terra incognita, a geographical blank. Beginning in the mid-1990s, academic and journalist David Mould's career took him to the region on Fulbright Fellowships and contracts as a media trainer and consultant for UNESCO and USAID, among others. In Postcards from Stanland, he takes readers along with him on his encounters with the people, landscapes, and customs of the diverse countriesâKazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistanâhe came to love. He talks with teachers, students, politicians, environmental activists, bloggers, cab drivers, merchants, Peace Corps volunteers, and more. Until now, few books for a nonspecialist readership have been written on the region, and while Mould brings his own considerable expertise to bear on his accountâfor example, he is one of the few scholars to have conducted research on post-Soviet media in the regionâthe book is above all a tapestry of place and a valuable contribution to our understanding of the post-Soviet world.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Frontispiece
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- One. Travels in âKyrzakhstanâ
- Two. Sacred Mountain and Silly Borders
- Three. How Do You Say âRump Roastâ?
- Four. Kasha, Honor, Dignity, and Revolution
- Five. On and Off the Silk Road
- Six. To Be a Kazakh Is to Be âBrave and Freeâ
- Seven. Father of Apples
- Eight. The Presidentâs Dream City
- Nine. Coal and Steel
- Ten. No Polygon, no Problem
- Eleven. Wheat and Oil
- Twelve. The Seven Lessons from Stanland
- Notes
- Glossary and Acronyms
- Acknowledgments
- Index