Restless Valley (ePub)

Philip Shishkin was an award-winning staff reporter for the Wall Street Journal. A fellow at the Asia Society, he is now a freelance writer based in Beijing.

"'The Stans'—as the far-off states of Central Asia are known in the White House, remain a lost world. But few of the old Soviet lands have fallen farther, or faster, amid plagues both ancient and modern: militant Islam, secular greed, a surging heroin trade, civil war, revolution and throughout it all the rule of dictatorships. Throw in the Pentagon's hunger for a staging ground to take on the Taliban, and you've got a dark maze. Thankfully, Philip Shishkin illuminates this tale with uncommon skill. Whether curious tourists or students of 21st-century geopolitics, readers would be hard-pressed to find a better guide." —Andrew Meier, author of Black Earth: A Journey through Russia after the Fall

"You'll finish the book with a greater understanding of Central Asia and the feeling that you yourself have been on a journey that you'll never forget, and made some friends along the way. Shishkin's writing evokes John Le Carré crossed with Raymond Chandler and the result is a mesmerizing read." —Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice

"This book offers an excellent account of everyday life in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, as well as very personal and highly nuanced depictions of some of the most important individuals behind the political changes in the region." —Erica Marat, Eurasia expert, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program

"Shishkin's book reads like a novel but is the stuff of hard-won journalism. Central Asia finally gets the treatment it damn well deserves." —Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan