Edge of Time: Traveling in Armenia and Karabagh

Rating:
Summary: Nonsense
Review: Does this book say that Karabagh is an essential part of Azerbaijan and its occupied by Armenian armed forces?

Rating:
Summary: worth the price
Review: I already own the First Edition of this book which was published in 2001, but I bought the Second Edition which just came out so that I can have the latest version for my next trip. The biggest changes I noticed are that the Second Edition added a phrases section and a full index. There are also more pages in the new version, with some extra details on the tourist spots. I can see that the listings are updated, too, with information about new hotels and even a new airline. My biggest criticism of the new edition is that most of the photographs are the same as from the first edition. Also, a fold-out map would have been nice. Otherwise, I would say that the Second Edition for 2002 did a good job of building on the First and I am glad I bought it.

Rating:
Summary: HISTORY can't be made up, just like armenians do.
Review: I presume that if one logs into Amazon.com and plans to purchase a book is, at least, an intelligent person that buy and reads books, correct?
Ok, lets move on. Most of the Americans and even Europeans don't know too much about Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Georgia and, Karabakh... Karabakh (means Black Gardens, in Azeri) has always been a part of either Independent Azerbaijan or within small states of 18th century that were somewhat independent. Anyway, as a result of Russia's involvement into the region in the beginning of 19th century, armenians were encouraged to move from present Iraq and Iran to Russian Empire, especially Karabakh... That's how armenians settled in Karabakh... They even built a monument in 1973 called "150 years of armenians moving to Karabakh"... Meaning what? they started to move to karabakh in 1823... Hey guys, wake up? Don't let the armenians fool you around... Those churches, castles built in 6-12th centuries were built by Albanians (latter, Albanias assimilated with Azeri turks). Shusha - local jewel of Karabakh, small city, was built by a local ruler "shakh", Azeri by nationality, in 1753. As a result of armenian national policy of occupation, Karabakh and other 5 regions of Independent Azerbaijan Republic were occupied by Armenia since 1993. UN Security Council has made 3 resolutions to Armenian to leave Karabakh, which they never did... Azerbaijan's 20% of lands are occupied by Armenia with the help of Russians... But we will get our lands back.. Evrything comes back to its place in history.
Karabakh will be returned to its owners - Azeris and armenians will pay a full price.

Rating:
Summary: Detailed and beautiful
Review: I used this book when I went to Armenia in August. It's a very good book to read before you go because there is a lot of background information in addition to all the usual hotel and restaurant listings and etc. The pictures were really good so I saved the book after my trip. I would say the best part was on Karabagh. This is the only book I have ever found that has any good travel information on Karabagh. I carried it around everywhere and I would definitely recommend it to buy.

Rating:
Summary: The best in its field - and that's not saying much
Review: I'm afraid its a sad reflection on the dearth of good literature about contemporary Armenia that this book is probably the best English-language guidebook for the country (the Lonely Planet guide being only useful for, say, propping up a wobbly leg on a coffee table). I'm surprised the other reviewers think it's so great - unless of course (a) they're related to the authors - and I suspect many of them probably hail from a certain part of California !) or (b) they don't expect much from their books. Sure, it's got great pictures (but for this readers should buy the authors' excellent Out of Stone book). But the info on Armenia is dreadfully thin, with little or no background info on most of the wonderful historical monuments and churches that dot Armenia. Fascinating and beautiful monasteries, chapels etc get casual one-line mentions: nothing about the immense history these monuments have, and the great stories that surround more or less every ancient building in Armenia. There's hardly any maps, and infuriatingly there's no index to the book! Having just spent eight days driving around Armenia (albeit with an excellent local guide) I have to say that the volume is too insubtantial to qualify as a proper guidebook. Armenia is such an amazing, beautiful and historic place it deserves a detailed, well researched and professional guide in its own right (and not just an annex to the Brandt Georgia one). I hope someone soon will step up and produce this kind of book. I give it three stars just for the photos.

Rating:
Summary: A delightful little book
Review: This is a delightful little book. I just couldn't put it down when I first got it! My husband and I had been quite anxious about making our first trip to Armenia and Karabagh this year, and the advice in the book really eased our minds by letting us know what to expect when we got there. Just KNOWING what to expect was such a help especially for someplace so far-off like Armenia. The advice about getting around and just getting by on a daily basis was very practical. And it's an easy read. As pertains history and facts about ancient churches and so-forth, it only skimmed the surface but we didn't really expect a scholarly treatise about religious history and architecture, so we weren't disappointed. Still, a bit more "trivia" would have been welcome. We were thrilled to see so such thorough coverage of Karabagh, but would have liked to have seen more information about Echmiadzin (the "Vatican of Armenia"!) and Gyumri. I suggest reading parts of the history book "Looking Toward Ararat," (by Suny) and another one called "Rediscovering Armenia" (authored by Kiesling), which was sort of an encyclopedia of historical monuments and quite detailed (although a bit of a mish-mash and difficult to read). We also had the Lonely Planet book which we thought was just dreadful.