Georgia in the Mountains of Poetry - Tapa dura

'Nasmyth is an ideal chronicler... read his quirky, entertaining, sometimes surreal book' * Literary Review * Indispensable to all serious travellers to the Caucasus' * Times Literary Supplement * 'The best book on post-Soviet Georgia' * Independent * 'Elegiac, quirky, readable, deeply knowledgeable... the best cultural-historical introduction to that tempestuous land' * Daily Telegraph *

Peter Nasmyth has lived in and travelled extensively throughout Georgia for the last 32 years. Georgia in the Mountains of Poetry is his fascinating account of this historically rich and drama loving country, based on his travels and hundreds of wide-ranging interviews. Reprinted numerous times, it remains the only comprehensive book on Georgia's history and culture written for the general reader, now substantially revised and expanded for this new edition. Georgia - no larger than Ireland - is the most geographical diverse country in the world for its size. It borders on the Black Sea and contains the heart of the Caucasus mountains, as well as subtropical wetlands and semi-arid regions. Stone towers attest to its 3,000-year-old history, which has witnessed the thousand-year reign of the Bagratuni monarchy, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, a bitter civil war, the celebration of its independence in 1991 and the arrival of full democracy in 2012. Yet little is known about this remarkable nation outside its borders. Georgia in the Mountains of Poetry is the first book to provide its full inner story and remains essential reading for anyone interested in this fascinating region set on the historic far borders of Europe and Asia.