Central Asia (Paperback) | Released: 19 Sep 2012

The Western reader is not well acquainted with Central Asia. This vast region in the great depths of Asia is confined between two giants, Russia and China, while also sharing its boundaries with two worrisome neighbors, Iran and Afghanistan. Central Asia is the region of ancient, sui generis civilization, where two major ethnic groups, of Iran (Indo-Iranian peoples) and of Turan (Turkic peoples), continuously confronted each other for many centuries. After being colonized by Russia, Central Asia 'disappeared' from history for more than a century and only the collapse of the Soviet Union allowed the Central Asian peoples to return to the modern world and regain their sovereignty. But how is it possible to transition from the poverty-stricken, totalitarian socialism, ridden with the remains of medieval traditions, to democracy and economic progress? How can interethnic conflicts be prevented? And what can be done with the influential Russian minority that has remained in the region since the break-up of the USSR? Distinguished scholar of Near Eastern and Central Asian History, Igor P. Lipovsky, assesses the historical legacy, religion, ethnicity, politics and environmental problems of the Central Asian states.
About the Author: Igor P. Lipovsky was born March 7, 1950, in Moscow, in an interfaith Russian-Jewish family. His paternal ancestors were prominent leaders and philanthropists of the Jewish community of Minsk, Belarus, while his mother (née Robinson) descended from the Russian-English family of well-known industrialists and merchants in pre-revolutionary Russia. Igor P. Lipovsky graduated with distinction from Lomonosov Moscow State University's Institute of Asian and African Studies. He then worked as a researcher and doctoral student at Academy of Sciences, in Moscow. Because of his criticism of the totalitarian and anti-Semitic regime in the Soviet Union, he was forced to leave the country in 1987. He received his Ph.D. degree in Near Eastern History in Israel, in 1989. In 1987-1992 he taught at the Department of Middle Eastern History of Haifa University. After the collapse of the USSR, he was invited as a visiting professor to St. Petersburg University (1993-1995); he then taught in Los Angeles (1995-97) and Boston (from 1998). Igor P. Lipovsky specializes in Near Eastern and Central Asian History. He has published more than a hundred articles in Russian, German, British and American journals and five books in the English and Russian languages. He lives in suburban Boston and is now a United States citizen.