REALITIES OF AZERBAIJAN 1917–1920

Book excerpt: This is a useful book on an understudied and important subject. Yet much of the narrative reads like a personal diatribe bracketed by national polemics. The author clearly has an ax to grind with the Armenian population of the South Caucasus and his tone does far more to distract the reader from the content of his story than to promote his thesis. For example: "Resettled in the South Caucasus in the mid-nineteenth century, Armenians brought carnage, ethnic and religious discrimination, and hatred. Today, they continue to maintain this policy." Such wildly broad and unsupported hyperboles will mislead the lay reader and vex the expert.