Since this book was completed in mid-1994 there have been a number of significant developments in the Transcaucasus and its immediate neighbourhood. Surat Husseinov has been ousted from power in Azerbaijan. The government in Armenia has clamped down harshly on the Dashnaks. The Chechen crisis erupted, forcing Russia to focus even more attention on what was happening across its southern borders. The debate about the route or routes along which Azeri oil should be piped to the West has also become more heated. In spite of the pace of events in the Transcaucasus Hunter has written a book which should enjoy a long shelf-life. The reader is able to gain a clear understanding of what occurred in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia in the final years of the Gorbachev era and in the first years of these states' independence after 1991. This background knowledge will enable the reader to make more sense of the most recent complicated twists and turns in the politics of the Transcaucasus region. -- From http://www.jstor.org (Sep. 15, 2013).