History of the Caucasus

It’s a splendid achievement – informed, considered and clear … There’s certainly no shortage of fascinating material … Baumer enthrals us … Once in a while there comes along a book by a fellow explorer that you wish to heaven you’d had the wherewithal and body of knowledge to write yourself. This is such a book. – Benedict Allen * The Spectator *Covering the last millennium of the region’s history, this scholarly yet atlas-sized, sumptuously illustrated volume tells the story of a too-often overlooked corner of our continent with impressive even-handedness. Part coffee-table browser, part detailed history, this is a valuable telling of a turbulent history. – Charlie Connelly * New European *This book, based on over a thousand sources, is a worthy successor to volume one, completing an overview running from prehistory to the present day. Baumer’s austere prose is free from the nationalism and ethnocentricity that, he warns, infect many accounts of the region’s history. His book is an extraordinary achievement. – John Mann * Literary Review *In Christoph Baumer the Caucasus has a capable chronicler willing to plunge into even the most convoluted aspects of its past and emerge to present a clear-eyed account of a many-layered, often labyrinthine story … Baumer has a knack for distilling extensive research from a wide range of sources about complicated and often recondite topics into a highly readable narrative. * Geographical *Splendidly illustrated … [Readers] will be well rewarded to plunge in and learn from Baumer’s thorough and insightful narrative. – David Chaffetz * Asian Review of Books *This is very much a political history of the Caucasus…fine pictures of churches and monasteries, coins, manuscripts, and modern monuments bring to life the period itself, and its modern political resonances…beautifully produced. * Current World Archaeology *An absorbing record of the history and life of this extraordinary and important part of the world. – The Revd Dr John Binns * Church Times *[L]avishly illustrated yet surprisingly affordable combination of colourful coffee-table book and detailed historical survey aimed at the general reader. * Iran and the Caucasus *The second volume of Christoph Baumer’s extraordinary History of the Caucasus traces the history of the region from 1050 BC up to the modern age, brought to life through more than 200 colour images and maps. * Choice *Meticulously researched and detailed. * Preetorius Foundation (Bloomsbury translation) *This superb, sweeping history of the Caucasus in the modern period promises to be the new standard set text in its field. * Alex Marshall, University of Glasgow, UK *

Christoph Baumer is a leading explorer and historian of Central Asia, Tibet and the Caucasus – has written many well-received books in the fields of history, religion, archaeology and travel. These include The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity (2006), Traces in the Desert: Journeys of Discovery across Central Asia (2008), China’s Holy Mountain: An Illustrated Journey into the Heart of Buddhism (2011) and the seminal History of Central Asia in four volumes (2012–2018), all published by I.B.Tauris.

Dr Baumer is President of the Society for the Exploration of EurAsia, Senior Research Fellow at the Kazakhstan Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Explorers’ Club, New York, the Royal Asiatic Society, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, London. He is a recipient of the prestigious Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Medal, awarded to him by the Royal Society for Asian Affairs in 2015.