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Autumn 2000 (8.3)
Page
85
New Books
Caucasus
Guidebook
  The
Lonely Planet guide to "Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan"
was just released August 2000. Each section is by a different
author, which may explain the book's uneven treatment of the
region.
The Georgian section (104 pages) is written by husband-wife team
David Rowson and Keti Japardize and provides the most comprehensive
coverage of all the countries.
The Azerbaijani section (72 pages) was written by Neil Wilson
and is carefully researched. To his credit, the author provides
all toponyms in Azeri Latin spellings, which eliminates the confusion
of English spelling via Azeri or Russian.
Wilson is sensitive to issues relating to Nagorno Karabakh (NK),
which is something that Azerbaijanis will question in the Armenian
section (54 pages), written by Beth Potter. Her section appears
woefully inadequate in research, or worse yet, outright biased.
Lonely Planet places Nagorno Karabakh in the Armenian section
of the book, though no nation - with the exception of Armenia
- recognizes Nagorno Karabakh as being separate from Azerbaijan,
or as being part of Armenia. There are other glaring errors;
for instance, Potter says "Nagorno" is an Armenian
word meaning "mountainous". Russians would balk. She
fails to continue the discussion to explain the word "Karabakh",
which is the Russian spelling of the Azeri word "Garabagh",
which means "black or great garden".
Potter places the blame for the war on Azerbaijan because it
abolished the autonomous status of the Nagorno Karabakh region
in response to Armenians in NK declaring their independence.
One would hope that in future editions, such sections could be
further researched to reflect a truer perspective of the complexity
that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides
and the displacement of more than 1.2 million people from the
region.
Overall, however, if you're serious about getting to know the
region, it would be worthwhile to get both travel guides, Lonely
Planet and Trailblazer, as together they add valuable insight
into a region that has little material available in English.
In general, they have done an admirable job of putting these
countries of the Caucasus on the world map.
"Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan" (Lonely Planet
Publications, 2000, 336 pages, $19.99, ISBN 0864426801, www.lonelyplanet.com
or Wilson
at: neil@scottishancestors.com
_____
From Azerbaijan
International
(8.3) Autumn 2000.
© Azerbaijan International 2000. All rights reserved.
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