At last, Central Asia has the book in English that its importance demands John Simpson--> Along the banks of the river once called Oxus lie the heartlands of Central Asia: Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Catapulted into the news by events in Afghanistan, just across the water, these strategically important, intriguing and beautiful countries remain almost completely unknown to the outside world. One diligent seminary student in the holy city of Bukhara was exiled to Siberia as a shepherd in the 1917 revolution and then conscripted into the Red Army. Tens of thousands of Poles walked and rode through Central Asia on their way to a new life in Iran. In this region, the extraordinary is commonplace and there is not a family without a remarkable story to tell. Here Monica Whitlock goes far beyond the headlines. Using eyewitness accounts, unpublished letters and first-hand reporting, she enters into the lives of the Central Asians and reveals a dramatic and moving story unfolding over three generations. Beyond the Oxus is both a chronicle of a century and a clear-eyed, authoritative view of contemporary events, taking us beyond the common cliches and prejudices about both the Soviet Union and the Muslim world.