Book Reviews

Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Caucasus has regained its role as a significant geopolitical crossroads and attracted Western oil multinationals. Due to its extreme multi-ethnicity and the legacy of arbitrary Soviet borders, the region has also seen some of the worst post-Soviet regional conflicts. Van der Leeuw’s narrative combines historical background information and politics of the 1990s with his personal experiences as a media correspondent based in Baku. This travelogue, however, lacks the stylistic eloquence of its genre. Moreover, it is full of stereotypes and extremely judgemental. It lacks exactly the kind of deeper understanding of the different nations’ history and culture that it is trying to convey. Anybody who only reads this account would get a rather skewed Baku-perspective on the Southern Caucasus.