Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus

I read this because I like to use big words referring to vaguely defined geographic regions

Fascinating insight from the author's just-before-9/11 trip through Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, and Turkmenistan. Kaplan has great insight into these nascent democracies and the effect of their past as part of the Ottoman and/or Soviet empires

An examination of history and politics meshed with a rich travel dialogue of the Near East. The style is three-dimensional, tying in the deep history, relevance to current events, and ever-present politics of the areas he visits. A fascinating read written in a very accessible style.

I have read and enjoyed many of Kaplan's books and I was really looking forward to this one. While I would still highly recommend it, I was slightly disappointed he didn't focus more of the book on the Caucuses and Caspian region. I thought the book was a little too wide in scope compared to say, Balkan Ghosts, which threaded well together. It felt a little disjointed, like he tried to...more

I have read and enjoyed many of Kaplan's books and I was really looking forward to this one. While I would still highly recommend it, I was slightly disappointed he didn't focus more of the book on the Caucuses and Caspian region. I thought the book was a little too wide in scope compared to say, Balkan Ghosts, which threaded well together. It felt a little disjointed, like he tried to cram three books in one. He had already covered the Balkans and Middle East in previous books which are better if you want to dig into these regions.It really wasn't until he got to Georgia that I really started to get into it, well more than 200 pages in. Then the book really got good. Considering the last year's events, it was especially interesting to see his earlier take on Saakashvili. The one thing that really disturbed me though that the map in my edition not only does not acknowledge the independent nation of Moldova. Not that but it has it within Ukraine's borders. What's up with that? Especially since Moldova was originally a part of Romania, which is a country he visited in this book, one would think that the map would not have such an egregious error. Within the text he acknowledges this, but barely skims the subject. This was an issue I also had with Balkan Ghosts as well, that it didn't cover it with enough depth.   hide

Great insight into an oft forgotten part of the world. This book is both entertaining and educationsl. Kaplan knows how teach without boring me to death!

Intersting, but not as good as Balkan Ghosts. Left me wishing for more. Interesting book, but not as good as Balkan Ghosts.

Very interesting. I wish he would write an updated version