Let Our Fame Be Great
Journeys among the defiant people of the Caucasus
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
Published:3rd Mar '11
Should be back in stock very soon
Oliver Bullough's Let Our Fame be Great: Journeys Among the Defiant Peoples of the Caucasus is the extraordinary untold story of the inhabitants of the Caucasus and their unbreakable spirit.
The Caucasus mountains are a land of jagged peaks and rugged people, who for over 200 years have rebelled against Russia's attempts to add them to its empire. Oliver Bullough's extraordinary debut tells their story for the first time. Travelling from remote village to refugee camp, rocky mountain gorge to forgotten massacre site, he discovers exiles, fighters, lost sects, defiant survivors - and an unbreakable spirit.
'With this impassioned volume Bullough has struck a blow for the glory of the Caucasus and helped to give voice to the voiceless'
Justin Marozzi, Financial Times
'Gripping stories that tell of the terrible things that happen to people caught up in constant warfare ... Now their stories are sung by a champion and will resound beyond their boundaries'
The Times
'A haunting portrait of a people blown to the winds by a forgotten storm'
Economist
'Wonderful, moving'
Norman Stone
'Brilliant ... Bullough draws you irresistibly into his narrative, fusing reportage, history and travelogue in colourful, absorbing prose ... The book is a pleasure'
Spectator
'Grand, furious'
Sunday Times Books of the Year
'Let its fame be great'
Scotsman
Oliver Bullough (b. 1977) studied modern history at Oxford University and moved to Russia in 1999. He lived in St Petersburg, Bishkek and Moscow over the next seven years, working as a journalist first for local magazines and newspapers, and then for Reuters news agency. He reported from all over Russia and the former Soviet Union, but liked nothing more than to work among the peoples and mountains of the North Caucasus.
This wonderful, moving book flashes backwards and forwards over a terrain almost impossible to survey, and manages the feat * Norman Stone *
Lively and impassioned ... a tragically neglected corner of our world * Orlando Figes *
Oliver Bullough's book is a painstaking, sensitively reported effort to knit together their [the people of the Caucasus] lost history -- Wendell Steavenson * Sunday Times *
A book that effortlessly mixes on-the-spot reportage and a wide-ranging history . . . Let its fame be great * The Scotsman *
Bullough brings us exciting news, presented as short, gripping stories that ... The history of their resistance and resilience has been largely unknown for two centuries. Now their stories are sung by a champion and will resound beyond their boundaries -- Ian Finlayson * The Times *
An impressive debut ... heartfelt and compelling ... With this impassioned volume he has struck a blow for the glory of the Caucasus and helped to give voice to the voiceless -- Justin Marozzi * Financial Times *
Bullough should be congratulated on his brave and tireless investigations into an under-reported region of the world -- George Walden * New Statesman *
Let Our Fame Be Great is a treat ... Finely bound, with excellent maps, Bullough draws you irresistibly into his narrative, fusing reportage, history and travelogue in colourful, absorbing prose ... The book is a pleasure, and most importantly, it is critical to understanding modern Russia with its worrying collective amnesia -- Daniel Metcalfe * Spectator *
Fascinating and ground-breaking ... Bullough has got plenty of dust, snow and mud on his boots from his travels recording the forgotten tragedies of the North Caucasus ... In the process he [has] unearthed many priceless nuggets of historic truth -- Thomas de Waal * OpenDemocracy *
- Short-listed for Orwell Prize 2011
ISBN: 9780141037745
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 23mm
Weight: 348g
512 pages