AZERBAIJAN DIARY:

A Rogue Reporter’s Adventures in an Oil-rich, War-torn, Post-Soviet Republic

(M.E. Sharpe, hardcover 1998; paperback 1999) 
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PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:

This underground classic tells the story of oil-rich Azerbaijan's first years of independence from Moscow. Goltz's vivid, personal account, filled with memorable portraits of individuals in high places and low, carries the reader from the battlefront to the oilfield, the voting booth to the negotiating table, always with an astute sense of how it all fits into the geopolitical firmament...This record of his years (in Azerbaijan) alternates in style between tragedy and farce. Throughout, the intensity of immediate experience is balanced by an acute awareness of contemporaneous events in Karabakh and Naxjivan, Georgia and Armenia, Russia and Chechnya, Iran and Turkey, Washington and Houston.

BLURBS AND PRAISE:

"I congratulate Thomas Goltz on his series of Caucasus diaries. It is an immense achievement that will keep him ever from being forgotten because it is the only eyewitness, literary travel, personal account of a significant period of history in a significant part of the world. Unlike the gaggle of bloggers and pundits, he has actually done something that will last. I also admire him for staying focused on his turf rather than getting distracted by the onrush of news events elsewhere."

--Robert D. Kaplan, author of Balkan Ghosts, Imperial Grunts, An Empire Wildernes, etc

REVIEWS:

“Mr. Goltz’s account of six years as a freelance journalist in a volatile region where oil men, spies, Islamic militants, mercenaries and corrupt politicians jockey for power reads like a combination of John le Carre and Hunter S. Thompson.”—The New York Times “Every reporter dreams of writing a book about what it was like to be on the spot when history happened. Thomas Goltz has done just that. ... [His] tale is a gritty blow-by-blow view from ground level. . . . The best sections look like classic reads for decades to come."

—The Wall Street Journal—

“This is no dry, academic study but a piece of what Goltz calls ‘history as contact journalism,’ meaning that ‘if you don't get bumped around a bit ... you have no business talking (or writing) about a place like Azerbaijan.’”

— London Times Literary Supplement—

“Goltz is a very evocative, engaging writer who has the ability to insert himself, and his readers, into a world of politics, intrigue, corruption and war that makes for not only an interesting lesson in modern nation building but also gripping theater.”

—Forbes Online—

“As sheer adventure, the book stands by itself as compelling reading, but the scholarly minded will benefit as Goltz moves from the poverty of post-independence Baku through the chaotic war involving Armenia and the ‘Black Garden’ of Nagorno Karabakh. . . . Highly recommended."—

—Library Journal—

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SAMPLE CHAPTER: ‘Kelbajar,’ Chapter 20, from AZERBAIJAN DIARY

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SLIDE-SHOW OF PICTURES RELATED TO AZERBAIJAN DIARY

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