"This book, though controversial in perspective, is an anthropological tour de force. Through detailed description, Tishkov enables readers to see behind the banal generalities around such terms as self-determination. The book puts a foreign world--ethnic and national violence--under a microscope and reports on those details that are unfortunately lost in all too many informed discussions."—David D. Laitin, author of Identity in Formation: The Russian-Speaking Populations in the Near Abroad

"Non-Russian students of ethnicity have long admired Valery Tishkov as a supremely knowledgeable specialist in the subject, an acerbic critic of careless description, and a superb organizer of research. Here, however, we discover a sympathetic observer, historical analyst, and concerned citizen who deplores war's destructiveness. Tishkov brings Chechen voices to eloquent witness against sham and obfuscation."—Charles Tilly, author of Durable Inequality

"This is a most valuable book on an important subject about which Americans know little. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the all-important U.S./Russia relationship as well as to general students of international affairs."—Thomas Graham Jr., former U.S. ambassador and author of Disarmament Sketches: Three Decades of Arms Control and International Law