Central Asia in historical perspective
By: edited by Beatrice F. Manz.
Contributors: Manz, Beatrice Forbes.
Series: The John M. Olin critical issues series
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Boulder
Language: eng
Number of pages: 245
Subjects: Asia, Central -- History; Asia, Central -- Ethnic relations
Description: Since the demise of Soviet power, the newly independent republics are redefining their identities and their relations with the world at large. In Central Asia, which lies at the crossroads of several cultures, the emerging trends are complex and ambiguous.

In this volume, leading experts explore factors that have driven the region's historical development and that continue to define it today: overlapping Islamic, Russian, and steppe cultures and their effects on attempts to delimit national borders and to create independent states; the legacy of Soviet and earlier imperial rule in economic and social relations; and the competition between Uzbek, Tajik, and other group identities.

The authors make few predictions, but their original and thought-provoking analyses offer readers new insight into those aspects of Central Asia's past that may shape its future.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.