Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity (BCSIA Studies in International Security)

Rating:
Summary: An intriguing rough guide to Azerbaijani society and history
Review: Although the title of the book might suggest otherwise Brenda Shaffer deals with both the independent Republic of Azerbaijan and their Southern co-ethnics in Iranian Azerbaijan. She offers the reader and extensive and a well-documented account of Azerbaijani Identity in Iran and Azerbaijan from beginning of the 20th century and up till present. She analyzes and gives new answers to old controversies when it comes to the deceleration of an autonomous republic in southern Azerbaijan at the end of the 2WW. Later on she offers a thorough analysis on the impact of the Iranian revolution, the Russian revolution, the break-up of the Soviet Union and the subsequent independence of northern Azerbaijan on the Azeri identity. Throughout the book she argues that there is a common Azeri identity that transcends the almost 200-year-old division between south and north Azerbaijan. The others investigation and analysis does not limit itself to the historical and political arena, she does also deal with cultural, lingual, religious and social sides of life in the two Azerbaijan's. All in all, the book stands out as an excellent rough guide to Azerbaijani society and modern history.

Rating:
Summary: Very Academic
Review: While I have yet to finish this book, I was somewhat disappointed as the book is extremely academic and somewhat dryly written. This is an interesting topic, but it is approached in a somewhat sterile way.

Rating:
Summary: Very Academic
Review: While I have yet to finish this book, I was somewhat disappointed as the book is extremely academic and somewhat dryly written. This is an interesting topic, but it is approached in a somewhat sterile way.