Georgia Books

The Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia

Darra Goldstein

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Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Baking -> General
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Baking -> General AAS
Subjects -> Cooking, Food & Wine -> Regional & International -> Asian -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

One of my favorites! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

As someone who was born and grew up in Tbilisi, I was very happy to find this book -- it captures all of my favorite recipes, and when I prepare them according to this book, they taste just like my grandma's cooking.

More than just a recipe book, this is also an exploration into the rich history and culture of Georgia, and how the history shaped the cuisine. I suggest this book to everyone who would like to add some interesting preparations to their cooking. For vegetarians, Georgians have plenty of healthful and filling ways to prepare veggies and beans, and also some mouth watering sauces that will enliven any dish (veg or not).

I enjoy this book both as a cook book, and as a historical book!

Editorial Review:

According to Georgian legend, God took a supper break while creating the world. He became so involved with his meal that he inadvertently tripped over the high peaks of the Caucasus, spilling his food onto the land below. The land blessed by Heaven's table scraps was Georgia.
Nestled in the Caucasus mountain range between the Black and Caspian seas, the Republic of Georgia is as beautiful as it is bountiful. The unique geography of the land, which includes both alpine and subtropical zones, has created an enviable culinary tradition. In The Georgian Feast, Darra Goldstein explores the rich and robust culture of Georgia and offers a variety of tempting recipes.
The book opens with a fifty-page description of the culture and food of Georgia. Next are over one hundred recipes, often accompanied by notes on the history of the dish. Holiday menus, a glossary of Georgian culinary terms, and an annotated bibliography round out the volume.

Defending the Border: Identity, Religion, And Modernity in the Republic of Georgia (Culture and Society After Socialism)

Mathijs Pelkmans

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Editorial Review:

This book, one of the first in English about everyday life in the Republic of Georgia, describes how people construct identity in a rapidly changing border region. Based on extensive ethnographic research, it illuminates the myriad ways residents of the Caucasus have rethought who they are since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Through an exploration of three towns in the southwest corner of Georgia, all of which are situated close to the Turkish frontier, Mathijs Pelkmans shows how social and cultural boundaries took on greater importance in the years of transition, when such divisions were expected to vanish.

By tracing the fears, longings, and disillusionment that border dwellers projected on the Iron Curtain, Pelkmans demonstrates how elements of culture formed along and in response to territorial divisions, and how these elements became crucial in attempts to rethink the border after its physical rigidities dissolved in the 1990s. The new boundary-drawing activities had the effect of grounding and reinforcing Soviet constructions of identity, even though they were part of the process of overcoming and dismissing the past. Ultimately, Pelkmans finds that the opening of the border paradoxically inspired a newfound appreciation for the previously despised Iron Curtain as something that had provided protection and was still worth defending.

The New Cold War: Revolutions, Rigged Elections, and Pipeline Politics in the Former Soviet Union

Mark A. MacKinnon

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed two years later, liberal democracy was supposed to fill the void left by Soviet Communism. Poland and Czechoslovakia made the best of reforms, but the citizens of the "Evil Empire" itself saw little of the promised freedom, and more of the same old despots and corruption. Recently, a second wave of reforms — Serbia in 2000, Georgia in 2003, and Ukraine in 2004, as well as Kyrgyzstan's regime change in 2005 — have proven almost as monumental as those in Berlin and Moscow. The people of the Eastern bloc, aided in no small part by Western money and advice, are again rising up and demanding an end to autocracy. And once more, the Kremlin is battling the White House every step of the way. Mark MacKinnon spent these years working in Moscow, and his view of the story and access to those involved remains unparalleled. With The New Cold War, he reveals the links between these democratic revolutions — and George Soros, the idealistic American billionaire behind them — in a major investigation into the forces that are quietly reshaping the post-Soviet world.

Georgia: Sovereign Country of the Caucasus (Odyssey Illustrated Guide)

Roger Rosen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This long-awaited revised third edition to the original and most comprehensive guidebook in English about Georgia reflects the tumultuous geopolitical reality of the country in the new millennium. Bordered by the Caucasus Mountains to the north, the Black Sea to the west, Azerbaijan to the east and Turkey to the south, Georgia stands at the crossroads of Europe and Asia and as such occupies an extremely strategic position along the Silk Route. This fascinating land is home to one of the most hospitable people in the world whose culture dates back to the Bronze Age. This guide explores the various regions of the country in depth, focusing on the Golden Age of Georgian culture in art and architecture during the medieval period but by no means neglecting the bar and restaurant scene of today. Literary excerpts from renowned Georgian and European authors, as well as from the national epic, The Knight in the Panther's Skin, provide added insight. This is the guide to have when touring the Caucasus and the one the New York Times called, "the best guidebook to Georgia."

• This guide explores an extraordinarily beautiful country which at the same time has enormous strategic importance within the region
• Comprehensive study of the country's religion, art and architecture
• Literary excerpts provide an insight into a culture little known in the West
• Detailed section on local food, wine and Georgian hospitality
• Overview of business environment
• Authoritative history of Georgia from tribal rule to national independence
• Useful websites
• 101 color photographs
• 22 maps and plans

The Making of the Georgian Nation

Ronald Grigor Suny

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Totally Misleading 1 out of 5 stars.
7 of 18 people found this review helpful.

I read through this book and got amazed how the Indiana University even considered attaching its name to it. Because this is total falsification of the Georgian history and straightforwardly an INSULT to any person who has ever had any positive emotions towards Georgia. Don't waste your time, this book will mislead you.

Editorial Review:

Like the other republics floating free after the demise of the Soviet empire, the independent republic of Georgia is reinventing its past, recovering what had been forgotten or distorted during the long years of Russian and Soviet rule. Whether Georgia can successfully be transformed from a society rent by conflict into a pluralistic democratic nation will depend on Georgians rethinking their history. This is the first comprehensive treatment of Georgian history, from the ethnogenesis of the Georgians in the first millennium B.C., through the period of Russian and Soviet rule in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to the emergence of an independent republic in 1991, the ethnic and civil warfare that has ensued, and perspectives for Georgia's future.

Georgia, 3rd: The Bradt Travel Guide

Tim Burford

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Must-Have Guide for Anyone Traveling to Republic of Georgia 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Like all the Brandt guides I've used, this one provides a wealth of background and planning information for a country with few other comprehensive resources for travelers. Tim Burford writes with clarity and color, making the text a pleasure to read. While no guide can capture every point of interest for every traveler, the Brandt guides always help me find the path to discovering my special places and moments, and the guide to Georgia is no exception.

As with any guide, travelers need to remember that conditions can alter radically in developing countries between the time information for the guide is collected and the time of one's visit.

Editorial Review:

This guide provides the most up to date and detailed source of hard facts for independent travelers and hikers on getting to and around this little explored but very welcoming ex-Soviet state. Thorough coverage is provided on the increasingly cosmopolitan capital, Tbilisi, together with plenty of suggestions for itineraries further afield, highlighting Georgia's picturesque and unspoiled countryside. Features include: *The Black Sea coast, Caucasus mountains, and Svaneti *A traveler's guide to Georgian hospitality, customs, and transport *The flora and fauna of the region

Georgia Diary: A Chronicle of War And Political Chaos in the Post-soviet Caucasus

Thomas Goltz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

History and adventure 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Knowing little about the country, I was looking for some background reading on a recent visit. This book served a both a great introduction to the country/region and was very entertaining. I found myself having a hard time putting it down. The history could be a little more developed but that may take away from its overall readability. I have already bought and recommened this book to others traveling to the area.

Editorial Review:

The author of the acclaimed "Azerbaijan Diary and Chechnya Diary" now recounts his experiences in the strife-ridden Republic of Georgia. 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 Chechenya. Journalist 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 Mikhail Saakashvili.

Republic of Georgia Map by ITMB

International Travel Maps and Books

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Hidden Treasures 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I took this map on my trip to Georgia and found it most useful; the best part is the list of interesting attractions for every section of the map! You can't find this there, so get it before you go.

Editorial Review:

Folded paper road and travel map in color. Scale 1:610,000. Distinguishes roads ranging from international highways to other roads (paved). Legend includes tracks (unpaved), railways, ferry routes, international boundaries, boundaries of an autonomous region/province boundaries, international airports, airports, caves, historic bridges, castles/mausoleums, monasteries/churches, settlements with defence towers, pre-Christian ruins, mosques, nature reserves. Map includes Georgian alphabet, inset map of Tbilisi, index of architecture monuments of special interest.

Lonely Planet Georgia, Armenia & Azerbaijan (Lonely Planet Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan)

N. Wilson, D. Rowson, B. Potter, Keti Japaridze

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 1.5 of 5

Another dent in LP's reputation 1 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Very poor from start to finish ! The last 10 years LP has published several very average books. I used to like LP a lot but I now prefer Rough Guide, Trailblazer or Footprint. I think LP's main mistake with this book was that they wanted to publish a guide to this region at all costs, just to fill the blank spots on their world map. How were these authors selected ? Many would do a better job. LP books used to be written by fellow travellers who knew what other travellers were looking for when travelling. Why are there e.g. so few (cheap)hotels listed ? I found an affordable place to stay in every town I visited. With a little bit of effort, the practical information would have been much better. Leave this book at home, better buy Mark Elliot's book for Azerbaijan (and Georgia) or the Bradt guide to Georgia (Burford) or consult Raffi Kojian's excellent website for Armenia.

Editorial Review:

This comprehensive guide to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan covers mountaineering, skiing, watersports and birdwatching. A guide to the Armenian, Azeri, Georgian and Russian languages is also included.

Orientalism and Empire: North Caucasus Mountain Peoples and the Georgian Frontier, 1845-1917

Austin Jersild

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Editorial Review:

Orientalism and Empire sheds new light on the little-studied Russian empire in the Caucasus by exploring the tension between national and imperial identities on the Russian frontier. Austin Jersild contributes to the growing literature on Russian "orientalism" and the Russian encounter with Islam, and reminds us of the imperial background and its contribution to the formation of the twentieth-century ethno-territorial Soviet state. Orientalism and Empire describes the efforts of imperial integration and incorporation that emerged in the wake of the long war. Jersild discusses religion, ethnicity, archaeology, transcription of languages, customary law, and the fate of Shamil to illustrate the work of empire-builders and the emerging imperial imagination. Drawing on both Russian and Georgian materials from Tbilisi, he shows how shared cultural concerns between Russians and Georgians were especially important to the formation of the empire in the region.