Nazarbayev and the Making of Kazakhstan

Fülszöveg

Thejourney of Nursultan Nazarbayev from nomad's son and steelworker to President of one the world s richest and most strategically important countries is a roller-coaster ride of high drama and history. Until 1991 Kazakhstan was not a nation. For centuries this colossal land mass, larger than Western Europe, had been invaded and brutalised by its Russian and Chinese neighbours. Nazarbayev, a young Kazakh nationalist, had an early career as a turbulent Communist Party oíficial whose outspokenness eventually brought him into the Politburo of Mikhail Gorbachev, and into partnership with Boris Yeltsin. Having interviewed many of the key players of that era, including Gorbachev, Aitken gives an enthralling new account of the break-up of the Soviet Union in which Nazarbayev played a pivotal role. No less fascinating is this book's account of how Nazarbayev disarmed his country s ownership of the world's fourth largest arsenal of nudear weapons; how he changed direction from the disastrous... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Thejourney of Nursultan Nazarbayev from nomad's son and steelworker to President of one the world s richest and most strategically important countries is a roller-coaster ride of high drama and history. Until 1991 Kazakhstan was not a nation. For centuries this colossal land mass, larger than Western Europe, had been invaded and brutalised by its Russian and Chinese neighbours. Nazarbayev, a young Kazakh nationalist, had an early career as a turbulent Communist Party oíficial whose outspokenness eventually brought him into the Politburo of Mikhail Gorbachev, and into partnership with Boris Yeltsin. Having interviewed many of the key players of that era, including Gorbachev, Aitken gives an enthralling new account of the break-up of the Soviet Union in which Nazarbayev played a pivotal role. No less fascinating is this book's account of how Nazarbayev disarmed his country s ownership of the world's fourth largest arsenal of nudear weapons; how he changed direction from the disastrous economics of communism to free markets and oil riches; and why Kazakhstan has become the most commercially successful nation to emerge from Soviet rule in Central Asia. Aitken's biography is a colourful portrait of both a man and country. It chronicles Nazarbayev's mistakes as well as his successes. It is a story that has never before been told in the West. As a political, personal and historical page-turner Nazarbayev and the Making of Kazakhstan recounts one of the most intriguing and influential odysseys of modern times. Vissza