****************************************************************
PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:
Soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Georgia fell prey to a series of power struggles, rampant crime and corruption, secessionist wars, and the spillover of the war in neighboring Chechnya. Goltz traces these developments with the same kind of vivid, personal narrative that made his previous books so compelling. This fast-paced, first-person account is filled with fascinating details about the ongoing struggles of this little-known region of the former Soviet Union. Featuring memorable portraits of individuals in high places and low, it traces the story from 1992 through the Rose Revolution, the resignation of Eduard Shevardnadze, and the new presidency of U.S.-educated Mikheil Saakashvili.
*****************************************************************
“The third installment in Thomas Goltz's Caucasian diary series is arguably the best written of the three. With Georgia increasingly critical to western interests, Georgia Diary fulfills an important mission in providing much-needed background on the civil wars and state failure of the early 1990s. In his typical direct language and his frank retelling of the events he witnessed, Goltz makes the reader feel he or she witnessed Georgia's traumatic formative events in the post-Soviet space. It is required reading for those wanting to better understand the roots of the many problems of present-day Georgia and the Caucasus as a whole.”
--Svante Cornell, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, John Hopkins University--
“This is the latest, highly entertaining installment of Thomas Goltz's rip-roaring travels around the Caucasus as the region drags itself from the debris of the Soviet Union. Georgia Diary is the perfect complement to his Azerbaijan Diary and Chechnya Diary, and will not disappoint either those seasoned 'traveling companions' who have journeyed with Goltz in the past from the safety of their armchairs, or the new reader who wants to learn more about this fascinating part of the world. Thomas Goltz packs a punch of insight, information, and atmosphere in every paragraph.”
--Fiona Hill, The Brookings Institution--
“…Rich with insights on the country's ethnic patchwork, the book culminates with knock-down drag-out reportage on the momentous siege of Sukhumi by Abkhaz separatists and Russian-sponsored irredentists.”
--Frederick Starr, Chairman, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, Washington--
“In Georgia Diary, as in his previous writings, Thomas Goltz plies the ground bounded by journalism, policy analysis, travel literature, and memoir. Above all, he is an open-eyed observer and compelling storyteller.”
--Kenneth M. Jensen, Executive Director, American Committee on Foreign Relations
“At his danger-hopping best, Thomas Goltz is a lyric poet of the chaos, wars, and madness that crazed the small Caucasus republic of Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union…Through the fog of high-octane fruit brandies and brilliantly recounted absurdities…Goltz communicates an instinctive understanding of both the tortured history of the Caucasus and its human victims.”
--Hugh Pope, author of Sons of the Conquerors--
"Goltz's most recent book, on my native Georgia, is superb but sad. Why sad? It looks like we are not learning from our mistakes, but repeating them, again and again."
--Tedo Japaridze, (former) Georgian ambassador to the USA, Fellow, Kennan Institute, Washington, DC--
REVIEWS:
"...With his bushy mustache and hard-drinking Montana bluntness, (Goltz) embodie(s) the last of a once-revered American tradition, the sympathetic, Hemingway-esque, world-roving free-lancer...In between dodging landmines, vacuum bombs and other ordnance, Mr. Goltz gives us a solid rundown of Georgia's convoluted history, but he excels particularly at gritty first-person narrative. The best episode in the book is the siege of Sukhumi in 1992-93 when Abkhaz rebels encircled the capital of the secessionist region...We should all be glad that he indeed made it out and lived to tell the tale."
--Melik Kaylan, in the Wall Street Journal, Nov 17/18, 2006.--
The full article is available to WSJ on-line subscribers via this link
”…Particularly useful is the author’s ability to summarize centuries of complex Caucasus history. Goltz also has the gift of using humor to highlight the poignancy--or madness--of a situation. ... Georgia Diary is written by a true friend of the region, a brave soul, and a heck of a good story-teller.”
--Alex van Oss, Chair of Caucasus Advanced Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, DC, in EurasiaNet.
The full article is available on-line at
For lighter reading, please click link to review of Georgia culinary feast and Georgia Diary in the Missoula, Montana The Independent weekly, circa mid October, 2006
*****************************************************************
SAMPLE CHAPTER: PREFACE
*****************************************************************
SLIDE SHOW/PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY FROM GEORGIA DIARY
*****************************************************************
TO ORDER:
Click to order form amazon.com
|
Thomas C.Goltz 
