Georgia, Sakartvelo: the Birthplace of Wine by Terry and Kathy Sullivan reveals a cultural world unknown to many people. The country of Georgia is located to the east of the Black Sea between the Greater Caucasus Mountains and the Lesser Caucasus Mountains. This is a land with a Mediterranean climate where wine, history, food and religion intermix. The people in this region have been making wine continuously for 8,000 years. Discover the qvevri winemaking method that has been used to make natural wine for centuries. Terry and Kathy take readers into Georgia's culture with an emphasis on wine and history.

This two-volume book entitled Georgia: History, Culture and Ethnography is a richly illustrated, genuine gift for the lovers of European culture and history. This book consists of more than twenty chapters in which Georgias musical folklore is described in detail according to its different ethnographic corners. It is accompanied by audio recordings of more than 1,600 Georgian folk songs and more than 100 church hymns. It also contains unique videos of Georgian folk dances. In the first volume, the reader will find articles about pre-Christian culture, as well as church architecture, fresco paintings, icon painting, and sacred hymns belonging to the period after the adoption of Christianity by Georgia (IV century AD). Readers will discover how unique and distinctive this culture is, and how it was developed by such a small country in the South Caucasus, the territory of which is recognised as the homeland of winemaking and the oldest dwelling of man in Europe. In the second volume, for readers interested in musical folklore and folk art, they will learn about Georgian folk architecture, pottery, stone masonry, winegrowing-viticulture, costumes and other elements of Georgian folk traditions.

The 2008 Georgian-Russian war focused the world’s attention on the Caucasus. South Ossetia and Abkhazia had been de facto independent since the early 1990s. However, Russia’s granting of recognition on 26 August 2008 changed regional dynamics. The Caucasus is one of the most ethnically diverse areas on earth, and the conflicts examined here present their own complexities. This book sets the issues in their historical and political contexts and discusses potential future problems. This volume is distinguished from others devoted to the same themes by the extensive use the author (a Georgian specialist) makes of Georgian sources, inaccessible to most commentators. His translated citations thus cast a unique and revealing light on the interethnic relations that have fuelled these conflicts.

This book discusses the political and economic history and geography of Georgia, the problems it has faced, and how it has overcome and is still overcoming them. In most countries, at the end of the 20th century the successful resolution of social-economic, political, demographic and ecological problems was largely dependent on effectively protecting the population and economic assets from natural disasters and on ensuring conditions for their sustainable development. These problems are most acute in mountainous regions like Georgia, where the unplanned development of natural ecosystems has had drastic consequences. It is therefore necessary to understand not only the probability of changing conditions (natural as well as political and demographic), but also the probability of the resulting economic losses. The book is divided into four sections; historical and political geography, geological processes, ecological processes and developmental geography. In the historical and political geography section the authors present a detailed discussion on ancient history, historical and political geography, ethnic groups and religions, demographics and socio-cultural geography. The geological processes section contains information on geology, geodynamical processes, glacial and periglacial processes. The ecological processes section examines a variety of landscapes and ecosystems, aspects of deforestation, reforestation and desertification along with anthropogenic impacts on the environment. The developmental geography section looks at different economies, natural resources, sustainable development and climate change.

This is the first comprehensive cultural and historical introduction to modern Georgia. It covers the country region by region, taking the form of a literary journey through the transition from Soviet Georgia to the modern independent nation state. Georgia's recorded history goes back nearly 3,000 years. The Georgians converted to Christianity in 330 and their Bagratuni monarchy endured for over 1,000 years. The Soviets ruled the region from 1921 but their vigorous repression did little to eradicate the strong Georgian sense of nationhood and under Gorbachev, Georgian independence became inevitable. Nasmyth's lively and topical survey charts the nation's remarkable cultural and historical journey to statehood. Having travelled extensively in the country over a period of five years, Peter Nasmyth is exceptionally qualified to write on Georgia. His authoritative, dynamic and perceptive book is based on hundreds of interviews with modern Georgians, from country priests to black marketeers. Georgia will be essential reading for anyone interested in this fascinating region as well as for students and researchers requiring an insight into life after the collapse of the old Soviet order in the richest and most dramatic of the former republics.

Georgia emerged from the fall of the Soviet empire in 1991 with the promise of swift economic and democratic reform. But that promise remains unfulfilled. Economic collapse, secessionist challenges, civil war and the failure to escape the legacy of Soviet rule - culminating in the 2008 war with Russia - made the transition to democratic institutions and consolidated statehood a difficult struggle that has lasted over two decades. In 1991, fifteen new states emerged from the disintegrating Soviet Union. To Western observers, Georgia was one of the most promising republics for achieving swift economic and democratic reform. Instead, the country descended into civil war and a period of populist authoritarianism. Within a year of its declaration of independence, Georgia was a 'failed state' on the verge of dissolution. Former Soviet foreign minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, returned as the president of the newly independent state in order to restore and rebuild, but over the next decade the country slipped into a period of political stagnation and corruption. Enraged by the country's decline, a group of rebellious young politicians, subsequently dubbed the 'Rose Revolutionaries', ousted Shevardnadze in 2003, promising clean government, democracy and effective institutions. However, the Georgian opposition claims that, in seven years of power, the Rose Revolutionaries have failed to deliver their domestic promises. Jones' examination of more than two decades of Georgian political struggle for independence and democracy is a chronicle and analysis of the hopes and disappointments of Georgia's aspiring democracy builders. Focusing on the domestic challenges to democracy and state-building faced by an impoverished and complex multinational state, his book examines the workings of government, popular interaction with the state, and the emergence of new social groups. As the war with Russia in August 2008 merely highlighted Georgia's continuing vulnerability to external forces and geopolitical rivalries, Jones also examines the events of the war and its implications for international law and Russia's relations with Europe and the US. An authoritative and commanding exploration of Georgia since independence, Stephen Jones' critical analysis of Georgia's political and economic development is essential for those interested in the post-Soviet world.

This book is the first comprehensive cultural and historical introduction to modern Georgia. It covers the country region by region, taking the form of a literary journey through the transition from Soviet Georgia to the modern independent nation state. Peter Nasmyth traveled extensively in Georgia over a period of 5 years, and his lively and topical survey charts the nation's remarkable cultural and historical journey to statehood. This authoritative, lively and perceptive book is based on hundreds of interviews with modern Georgians, from country priests to black marketeers. Georgia: Mountains and Honour will be essential reading for anyone interested in this fascinating region, as well as those requiring an insight into the life after the collapse of the old Soviet order in the richest and most dramatic of the former republics.