San Antonio College Library

In the Kingdom of Aran, in the Caucasus Mountains in 950 A.D., two adventurers wander the region, plying their trade as swords for hire, until they become involved in a bloody coup in the medieval Jewish empire of the Khazars as bodyguards for a fugitive prince.

This is the only book since the fall of the Soviet Union to analyze the security of the newly emerged independent states in the strategically vital region of Central Asia and the Caucasus. From one perspective, Central Asia and the Caucasus are a powder keg. Their struggling, unstable nations that once made up the Soviet Union are either already embroiled in conflict or sliding rapidly toward it. Their region is oil-rich, dotted with U.S. military...

"The fall of the Ottoman and Russian empires were watershed events in modern history. The unraveling of these empires was both cause and consequence of World War I and resulted in the deaths of millions. It irrevocably changed the landscape of the Middle East and Eurasia and reverberates to this day in conflicts throughout the Caucasus and Middle East. Shattering Empires draws on extensive research in the Ottoman and Russian archives to tell the story...