Customer Reviews

The Sabres of Paradise: Conquest and Vengeance in the Caucasus, Revised Edition

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Have to say, it reads fast and pleasant. You will not regret getting this book if you decide to do so. I withheld two stars because book claims to be historical, while there are quite a few inaccuracies.
I respect the admiration author has for Caucasian mountaineers (being descendent of such it is especially pleasant), but she definitely overromanticizes her hero(s). Shamyl is great enough figure and Chechens are brave enough people to be in need of overglorification.
Book tells a lot of legends and passes them as facts. Some most naïve, even silly XIX c stereotypes are restated without questioning - i.e. Khevsurs being descendents of Crusaders who passed through Caucasus in their due time!!! This lame assumption is based on the fact of cross being important symbol among Khevsurs (who in fact are Georgian mountaineers, just like Svans (Suanetians) who Blanch "mistakes" for Muslim North Caucasians (in fact they are Christian). Khevsur cross is pre-Christian symbol (sufficient archeological evidence for anyone who cares to check).
Blanch also retells number of legends told by Alexander Dumas in his "Adventures in the Caucasus" (without referring to the source!) And names some of those legends (I remember two: Shete, child-tongue cutter; and a father who cut up his son's dead body into 70 pieces and sent to his relatives as a request for revenge...) as "Chechen stories", while Dumas tells them as Tushetian ones (another Georgian Christian tribe).
Either she is mistaken, or she purposefully mislocates the origin of characters in order to draw a portrait of Chechens the way she wants. It is OK to be mistaken and I hope it is just a mistake, because I really don't like when writer misleads the reader...
There is not much research done and there are very few books written about Caucasian history in any language. Despite what I said above, this one is probably the best among English books I have come across. So, I recommend it to everyone, especially if you are not a history buff, but a sucker for good romantic story about bravery and glory and freedom, etc. We may say, story is "based on true story". Enjoy it!

As a student of Russian history, I must say that this book is the best I have ever read. It covers Russian cultural perspective as no book can, and brings into focus the tragedy of Chechynia and Daghestan like nothing else could. Nothing is a better source for understanding 19th and 20th century Russia.

The reviews I've read so far fail to emphasize that this book, while it certainly covers much of the history of the Caucuses in the latter half of the 19th century, is in no small part a biography of Imam Shamyl, "The Lion of Dhagestan", and his role as the leader of what was referred to as "The Mureed Wars". Shamyl was a legendary, charismatic leader who, through the power of his Islamic faith, and with the added dimension of being son-in-law of one of the great Shaykhs of the Naqshbandi Sufi order (Jamaluddin Ghumuqi), united the various tribes and peoples of this region to fight off the great Russian Bear for nearly 25 years. It is an epic tale of heroism and tragedy on a personal and cultural level, and will grip the reader as they follow the exploits and the battles that are still to this day legendary in the Caucuses.

While lacking the skill that a Peter Hopkirk brings to this kind of narrative, Leslie Blanch has nevertheless written a bold, exciting history of a fascinating area. This book is filled with heroes and villians and damsels in distress, all the more exciting because it is all true. One wishes Blanch had a little better organization or flow to the book, but it is a terrific read and painlessly aids one's understanding of the area.

The reviews I've read so far fail to emphasize that this book, while it certainly covers much of the history of the Caucuses in the latter half of the 19th century, is in no small part a biography of Imam Shamyl, "The Lion of Dhagestan", and his role as the leader of what was referred to as "The Mureed Wars". Shamyl was a legendary, charismatic leader who, through the power of his Islamic faith, and with the added dimension of being son-in-law of one of the great Shaykhs of the Naqshbandi Sufi order (Jamaluddin Ghumuqi), united the various tribes and peoples of this region to fight off the great Russian Bear for nearly 25 years. It is an epic tale of heroism and tragedy on a personal and cultural level, and will grip the reader as they follow the exploits and the battles that are still to this day legendary in the Caucuses.

This book reflects the chivalrous true side of the Chechens and their lifestyle

This is romantic history. Orientals are exotic, Pushkin is swarthy, Germans are militarists and the Russians are, well, Russian. The prose is full of sabres, kinzhals, samovars, mazourkas and limitless steppes. She thinks that shepherds live where there is no vegetation and that the raskolniks were defeated at Poltava, so there must be other mistakes. But it is no worse for that. It is a good read and seems to have most of the facts. This is history as experienced rather than described.

This book is not only a very pleasant read about the Russian conquest of the Caucasus, and thus good background for understanding the current problems there. It's also a source from which Frank Herbert drew heavily when writing his science fiction novel *Dune*. Such terms as chakobsa, kanly and kindjal are not unique to Blanch's book, but they certainly resonate with Herbert's fans.
Highly recommended and very readable.

This is a must read for anyone interested in the history of the Caucausus and/or Russia. This is Blanch's tour de force, evidently the culmination of years of research and travel in the region, and she does not disappoint. The historical tale and larger than life personalities detailed are more than enough to hold a reader's interest. She manages to straddle the line between fact and romantic fiction, paying close attention to detail while never over-committing her sympathies to one side or the other.

I can't speak to historical inconsistency here, not being a specialist in the area, that said, in a book of this scope, there is bound to be some. If you can put that aside, "Sabres of Paradise" is a sweeping, entertaining read, and a fascinating look into a world that has certainly passed, but whose remnants live in various movements throughout the world. Good book.

it is good book for everyone interested in the history of Caucasus, in the history of the struggle of the Caucasian people (Avars, Chechens, Cherkess and so on) against Russia's intervention. By the way contrary to a common opinion in the West, Imam Shamil was not a Chechen he was an Avar.