History of the Caucasus

Baumer sets out the wonders of the past, sometimes doing so valley by valley… This is a real treat: a rare book whose images do justice to the text and vice versa. I cannot recommend it highly enough. -- Peter Frankopan * The Spectator *
This grand and encyclopedic volume will surely become the standard work on this beguiling and important region. -- Bijan Omrani * Literary Review *
The Caucasus has long attracted mountain climbers, bird watchers and lovers and medieval architecture: its appeal, thanks to Baumer’s book, will reach a wider audience, from tourists to academics who want to study languages of a region that Arabs called ‘the Mountain of Tongues’. The first volume takes us from the dawn of history to the 11th century. It is a miracle of both concentration and clarity. -- Donald Rayfield * History Today *

The largely unknown and historically neglected Caucasus emerges as a land of never-ending fascination… This is writing on a vast his­torical scale… Filled with awe-inspiring photography, clear and relevant maps, useful timelines and pic­tures of hundreds of artefacts.

-- Steve Andrew * The Morning Star *
Sweeping [and] beautifully illustrated. * The New European *
To perform a historical survey of such a long time span, from prehistory to the collapse of the Soviet Union, of a region containing several dozen nations and intersecting with so many of the great world empires would seem to be a foolhardy undertaking… [Baumer] pulls this off through dogged erudition and enthusiasm for his subject. * Asian Review of Books *

This huge sweep of history is handled deftly and intelligently through Baumer’s vivid and lucid prose and the accompaniment of magnificent photographs, many taken by the author, which amply illustrate the archaeological discoveries through the ages, from ruined fortifications to wondrous works of art… A wonderful book full of great scholarship.

-- John Hare * Current World Archaeology *

“Lavishly illustrated with the author’s colour photos taken on various visits to the region over the past decade, the heavy gloss paper gives the feel of a coffee table book. However, the content is that of a rich, old-school history text, fact-heavy and chronologically ordered with a suitably bewildering cast of kings and battles… Baumer’s work [is] in a class of its own.”

-- Mark Elliot * The Caspian Post *
While the book would be worth having for the images alone, the text provides a mostly reliable overview of the vast sweep of human history in the Caucasus and adjacent regions from the earliest signs of hominin habitation more than 1,7 million years ago up to the 13th century. * Iran and the Caucasus *
Impressively informative, profusely illustrated, exceptionally well organized and presented, History of the Caucasus: At the Crossroads of Empires by historian Christoph Baumer is an extraordinary work of regional history that will have enormous appeal for the non- specialist general reader and the academician alike—making this an especially and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, community, college, and university library Asian history collections in general, and supplemental curriculum studies reading lists in particular. * Midwest Book Review *
Baumer's book is a milestone in the long, complex and hitherto obscure history of the Caucasus: he deals adroitly and convincingly with questions of palaeontology, archaeology, myth, legend as well as the historical records to be retrieved from Armenian, Georgian, Latin and Greek sources. He shows due scepticism about national legends and etymological claims. Baumer writes with admirable clarity. His book is magnificently illustrated, and all the reader can want is for volume 2, covering the next thousand years, to appear as soon as possible. * Professor Donald Rayfield, Emeritus Professor of Russian, Queen Mary University of London, UK *
A fascinating book with glorious photography. * Irish Tech News *