A peek at an often overlooked part of the world at a very interesting point in its history. I was very interesting to hear the perspectives of the many ethnic groups inhaburing Central Asia on their life before and after the fall of the Soviet Union. I did, however, find the author a bit pretentious in both his writing and judgements of many of the book’s characters. Though I can say, this book was successful in making me more interested in learning more about the history and current state of Central Asia.