Encounters at the Edge of the Muslim World: A Political Memoir of Kyrgyzstan

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This unique work provides the only sustained political history of independent Kyrgyzstan, explaining events in the context of its society and the broader international order. Drawing on three decades of personal encounters with ordinary citizens and leading public figures, Eugene Huskey takes readers on a journey through the unlikely birth and tumultuous development of Central Asias most open society. Starting with the heady, romantic first days of independence and moving through the popular uprisings and inter-ethnic violence of recent years, he chronicles the struggles of a new state to establish a democratic order and to find its place in the international community, while caught between China, the Middle East, and the Russian world. At the center are the very human stories of leaders and citizens trying to navigate the transition from communism, where identities, property, and the rules of the political game were constantly in dispute. With citizens of independent Kyrgyzstan stripped of their Soviet identity, the book illustrates how alternative loyalties based on kinship, geography, statehood, and religion competed for prominence in ways that often complicated the new countrys political, social, and economic development.

Reviews

No American scholar has quite the depth of understanding of Kyrgyzstan that Eugene Huskey commands, and in this work he puts both his impressive analytical skills and his vast knowledge and experience to excellent usein a work that teaches a great deal and remains remarkably engaging and warm. This book, which has no equal in the current literature, is a first-person account of the protracted birth, at times painful and at times joyous, of Central Asias first modern democracy. It is an important accomplishment and the most significant contribution to date to the English-language literature concerning Kyrgyzstan. -- Scott Horton, contributing editor, Harpers Magazine
I opened this book not even sure I could pronounce Kyrgyzstan. I finished it with a realization that the story of this small Central Asian country, wedged between three major global hotspots, is highly relevant to any American trying to make sense of the world today. If you want to understand Kyrgyzstanand you do, even if you dont know it yetthis is the only book to read. -- Steve Kornacki, national political correspondent, NBC News
As an objective observer with a unique insiders knowledge of our country, Eugene Huskey has traced the turbulent development of our young post-communist democracy a quarter century after the founding of independent Kyrgyzstan. Written with warmth and humanity by an outstanding scholar, this book offers an invaluable firsthand account of Kyrgyzstan for foreign readers who want to know more about contemporary Central Asia. It is a rare, heartfelt work that will encourage us to write about our revolutions instead of only making them. -- Roza Otunbayeva, former president of Kyrgyzstan

Author Bio

Eugene Huskey is William R. Kenan, Jr., Chair in Political Science at Stetson University. His research on Kyrgyzstan first took him to the country in 1992, six months after Kyrgyzstans emergence as an independent state. He has been back to Kyrgyzstan ten times since then to conduct research, teach at the American University of Central Asia, train Kyrgyzstani political scientists, and participate in a mission for the International Center for Transitional Justice.