UK edition (RoutledgeCurzon)                                US edition (Palgrave )
 
 

Published by RoutledgeCurzon (ISBN 0 7007 0644 5)
(part of the Taylor & Francis Group)
In the Series Caucasus World
Series editor: Nicholas Awde.
Distributed in the USA by Routledge /New York
Also co-published in the USA by Palgrave Macmillan, the academic wing of St. Martin's Press
(ISBN: 0312239947)

There are records of this book in the Library of Congress (US edition) and the British Library (UK edition).

Ordering:

Please write to [email protected] to order your copy of The Circassians.

 

For the convenience of residents of Jordan, the book can be ordered by calling 079-6769290, 5511011, or

Prime Mega Store at both Mecca Mall and Barakeh Mall, or

Jordan Book Centre, Tel.: 5151882.

 

 

Reviews
 

At least 14 reviews of the book in the English language have been published:

• ‘This exceptionally comprehensive handbook maintains throughout the highest scholarly rigor ... a fundamental reference...’ Choice Magazine, USA. (Also read comments on Amazon.com, Amazon.fr, or Barnes & Noble)
• ‘Ignorance and misinformation about this group is thus still common even amongst specialists in conflict and minority studies. The Circassians makes a valuable contribution by providing a base of solid and reliable data about this group, and also by explicitly presenting the minority perspective… The loss of nationhood at the hands of more powerful neighbours, and its salvation through fortitude and resistance, are recurrent motifs; the author’s own rather romanticised commentary in the text is evidence of the power and unquestioned historicity of the national idea in this part of the world… Only a few of the world’s many ethnic minorities have managed to capture the Western imagination. Scores of others face the multiple ills of demographic decline   and cultural desuetude without making headlines. The ‘Peoples of the Caucasus and the Black Sea’ series, of which this book forms a part, provides an invaluable window on a region as remarkable for its cultural diversity as for the lack of specialised knowledge about it. It is, moreover, handsome and well-produced, with many useful maps, illustrations and photographs.’ Dr. Laurence Broers [well-known expert on the South Caucasus] in The Times Literary Supplement, no. 5176, 14 June 2002.
• ‘This work admirably fulfils its purpose as a comprehensive handbook. An extremely useful compilation of sources, information, and data, it provides an overview of the history, society, and customs of the Circassians ’ – Dr. Seteney K. Shami [Director of the Program on the Middle East and North Africa and on Eurasia at the Social Science Research Council, New York] in Ethnos, Journal of Anthropology (Routledge, UK), vol. 68, no. 1, March 2003, pp 137-40.
• ‘A senior researcher [Assistant President] at the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan, Jaimoukha introduces the indigenous people of the Caucasus who live north the Caucasus Range. Choosing among the various definitions of who to include among the Circassian people, he chooses the most restrictive, those many tribes who speak mutually intelligible dialects of Adigabze, a non-Indo-European language. Land and people, the diaspora, customs and traditions, music and dance, and literature are among the topics.’ Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com). (See also Barnes & Noble , or Powell’s Books)
• ‘The first modern account of the Circassians... the book presents reliable, detailed and up-to-date information on the Circassian nation which will undoubtedly be welcomed by a very broad readership, including of course the numerous Caucasian diaspora communities.’ Prof. Brian George Hewitt [Professor of Caucasian Languages, the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London] in The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. XII, part 1, April 2002, pp 81-3. (Read also his Amazon.com review)
• Prof. Ernest Tucker [Professor of History, United States Naval Academy] in The Middle East Studies Association Bulletin (USA), vol. 37, no. 2, winter 2003, pp 251-2.
• Dr. Vjacheslav Chirikba, in The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, vol. 65, no. 1, February 2002, pp 169-70.
• Prof. Uli Schamiloglu [Professor of Languages and Cultures of Asia, University of Wisconsin-Madison] in Europe-Asia Studies (Institute of Central and East European Studies, University of Glasgow, Scotland ), vol. 54, no. 6, 1 September 2002, pp 1003-4. (1800 words)
• Prof. Henry R. Huttenbach [Professor of History at City College of the City University of New York and Director of the Center for the Study of Ethnopolitics and Ethnonationalism (NY)], 'Book Review: The Circassians: A Handbook, by Amjad Jaimoukha', in Canadian-American Slavic Studies - Revue Canadienne-Americaine d'Etudes Slaves, vol. 37, no. 4, October 2003, p486.
• Slavic and East European Journal (USA).
• Indigenous Nations Studies Journal (University of Kansas).
• The American Historical Review.
• The Royal Court Research Department (Jordan).
• Faits & Projects Magazine (Paris).

 
Citations

The book is cited by dozens of books, theses, dissertations, research papers and articles.

Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Maps
 

Introduction
 
·  People and land
·  History: earliest to 18th century
·  History: the Russian-Circassian War to the collapse of the Soviet Union
·  Politics and current affairs
·  The Diaspora
·  Economy
·  Religion and beliefs
·  Social structure
·  Customs and traditions
·  Folklore
·  Arts, crafts, and architecture
·  Music and dance
·  Language and linguistic policy
·  Literature
·  Theatre, media, and film

Afterword

Further Reading
·  Proverbs and sayings
·  Chronology
·  Appendices
·  The Circassian Pantheon and caste system
·  Latinized Kabardian alphabet
·  Circassian lexicography
·  Bibliographies and journals
 

Bibliography
Notes
Index

[A word about recommended prices: It is a good idea to shop around for the best deal. Every effort has been made to list the online bookstores that have the book. Also , there are sites that do the comparing for you and sort the results according to total cost (price+p&p). For UK edition try kelkoo.co.uk ; for US edition, AddAll gives good results. Bublos.com gives info on both editions and extra details concerning book reviews. In general, you can get a discount of 10-20% on the listed prices]

Notes

·  Includes about 240 proverbs and sayings with meanings and English equivalents.
·  Chronology includes more than a hundred entries, from 750,000 BC to the present.
·  Lexicography includes some 55 works on Kabardian-Cherkess, Beslanay, and Adigean and its dialects.
·  Bibliography includes more than 1,000 works in Western and Eastern European languages, Circassian, Russian and Turkish, arranged alphabetically according to author.
·  Some 60 photos, 6 maps, and other illustrations.
   

You may order this book straight from the publishers or on line (information is out of date):
 

UK edition: Routledge/New York (in stock), Amazon.uk, WHSmith (in stock), internetbookshop.co.uk (WHSmith's online bookstore), Blackwell's (has both editions in stock: UK , US ), Waterstone's (joined with Amazon.uk), History Bookshop.com, Ottakar's, The Book Pl@ce, Tesco, Alphabet Street (in stock), Bol.com, Bookland, NIAS (Nordic Institute of Asian Studies), Pandora (Turkish bookstore), Countrybookshop (in stock), Student Bookworld.com, Bloomsbury.
 

US edition: Amazon.com (in stock), Amazon.fr , Amazon.de,
Amazon.co.jp, Amazon.ca, Barnes & Noble (in stock), Wal-Mart (in stock),  Buy.com (on order), Fatbrain.com (teamed with Barnes & Noble), Books-A-Million (in stock), WordsWorth Books, Cody's Books (in stock), AlphaCraze (in stock), NetStoreUSA.com (in stock), A1Books (in stock), The Elliott Bay Book Company, Totalcampus.com (in stock), ecampus.com (in stock), Textbooksource.net (in stock), Textbookx.com (in stock), VarsityBooks.com (in stock), All Textbooks 4 less (in stock), Proxis.com (Belgian bookstore. Has two editions), Half.com, Powell's Books, Alibris (check for new and second hand copies), Borders.com (teamed with Amazon), AllBookstores.com (in stock), 1Bookstreet.com (in stock), BookSense.com (in stock), booksfree.com (in stock), DoubleDiscount.com (in stock), superbookdeals.com
You can also buy the US edition at Amazon.co.uk
 
People who read the book have made the following comments:

AlperGultekin from Turkey: It's a wonderful handbook for all Circassians and travellers too. I think young Circassian children can learn their past and about their land through this book. There have been many books about the Circassians, but this one is more useful than the others. Thank you. (Amazon.com)

Myra Daridan from France: The Circassians had constituted a well known culture until the end of the XIXth century, when they were scattered around the world and became one of many unfortunate diasporas. Had I been asked a couple of years ago about the Circassians, I would have said that this culture was becoming a subject for historians. With Amjad Jaimoukha's book, I am beginning to believe that this culture will survive, not only in history books, but within its members and by its members. "The Circassians: a Handbook" is a scientific review, free of hearsay and a-priori assumptions, in which the author was able to combine history, tradition and future prospects representing the different views of the many tribes that constituted the Circassian entity. The reader for whom the subject is familiar will still discover in this book details that are only known to 'insiders', whereas the novel discoverer will learn about the many aspects that characterised this culture. The bibliography at the end of the book is a masterpiece of completeness, and has never been as thoroughly investigated and presented. The Circassian sayings will demonstrate, if need be, the universality of wisdom amongst different cultures. From a Circassian point of view, I am very proud to see one of us presenting our heritage as it was originally perceived by our fore-bearers: a culture and not a religion, a nation and not a race, a future and not only a past. I strongly recommend reading this book to gain a better understanding of the current events taking place in the Caucasus but also in the many areas in the world where emigrants have sought refuge. (Amazon.com)

Waterstone's : A truly essential item.

OkanIscan from Turkey, June 5, 2001: Waiting for the next one
First the book on the Abkhazians, then the Circassians, now I am looking forward to have the one on the Ubykh from the same handbook series. I do want to thank Amjad Jaimoukha for his extraordinary work. Excellent source of information! (Amazon.com)