Scarecrow Press
Pages: 362
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-0-8108-6782-6 • Hardback • May 2012 • $158.00 • (£123.00)
978-0-8108-7983-6 • eBook • May 2012 • $150.00 • (£115.00)
Didar Kassymova is senior lecturer at the Kazakh Institute for Management, Economics, and Strategic Research, specializing in the history and politics of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. She is currently working on a doctoral dissertation analyzing the history of Russians in Kazakhstan.
Zhanat Kundakbayeva is associate professor at the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. She has written in Russian and Kazakh publications on Russian history and ethnic groups in the Caspian and Central Asian region, and in 2003 won a presidential grant as a distinguished scholar of Kazakhstan.
Ustina Markus is a specialist on the former Soviet republics. From 2009 until 2011 she was the Head of the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kurdistan-Hewler in northern Iraq. Dr. Markus has an extensive record of publications on the former Soviet republics and is currently engaged in research on the oil industry.
The authors—professors at Kazakh universities—begin this work with a short section explaining some of the choices in transliteration and spelling, followed by a brief introduction to the history and people of Kazakhstan, which borders Russia and China. The dictionary includes the names of historical and contemporary figures, cities, historic sites, ethnic groups, policies, and movements as well as definitions of words that are essential to understanding the Kazakhs. A good starting resource for someone with little knowledge of the country.
— Booklist
The format is approximately 400 alphabetic entries, with cross-references, about significant people, places, events, organizations and institutions, the economy, and society and its culture. There is a chronology that provides an overview of the country's history, especially for the twentieth century. The author carefully assesses the key issues in Kazakhstan's history and its attempt to establish a democratic and market-oriented economy using its vast exportable natural resources. An extensive bibliography to additional resources about this evolving republic is provided. This work is recommended for all library country study collections.
— American Reference Books Annual
Written by several scholars who specialize in Kazakh history and politics, this dictionary features 400-plus entries related to the history of Kazakhstan from about 1200 CE to the present. Cowritten by Kassymova (KIMEP Univ.), Kundakbayeva (Al-Farabi Kazakh National Univ., Almaty), and Markus (formerly, Univ. of Kurdistan-Hewler, Iraq), entries are fairly short and lack bibliographies; however, an extensive general bibliography completes the work. Biographical entries are numerous and helpful, and much of the information here on historical and cultural figures is difficult to find anywhere else. Likewise, entries on historical events, political parties, and themes such as language, literature, and mass media are often lengthy and give excellent detail....This is a useful addition to the literature, since so few standard works exist for this country. Summing Up: Recommended.
— Choice Reviews
Kazakhstan is a geopolitically important country on which very little has been written, so [this] new reference source is welcomed.
— Reference Reviews