Land Beyond the River: The Untold Story of Central Asia

by Monica Whitlock

Along the banks of the river once called Oxus lie the heartlands of Central Uzbekistan and Tajikstan. 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.

In this book, Monica Whitlock goes far beyond the headlines. Using eyewitness accounts, unpublished letters and firsthand reporting, she enters into the lives of the Central Asians and reveals a dramatic and moving human story unfolding over three generations.

There is Muhammadjan, called 'Hindustani', a diligent seminary student in the holy city of Bukhara until the 1917 revolution tore up the old order. Exiled to Siberia as a shepherd and then conscripted into the Red Army, he survived to become the inspiration for a new generation of clerics. Henrika was one of tens of thousands of Poles who walked and rode through Central Asia on their way to a new life in Iran, where she lives to this day. Then there were the proud Pioneer children who grew up in the certainty that the Soviet Union would last forever, only to find themselves in a new world that they had never imagined. In Central Asia, the extraordinary is commonplace and there is not a family without a remarkable story to tell.

Land Beyond the River is both a chronicle of a century and a clear-eyed, authoritative view of contemporary events.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Asia, Travel

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Al-Hakim was a Muslim when Islam was still a relatively new religion, newer still in this part of the world. It arrived with the Arab armies who came east as raiders in the middle of the seventh century, after the founding of their faith in 622. The attacked Termez many times from a large, shallow island in the Amu, and in about 682 wintered for the first time on what they called mawara-an-nahr, the land 'beyond the river,' or the right bank: what we now call Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Land Beyond the River" is an astonishing feat of reportage, covering more than a century of Central Asian, from the decline of the feckless last Emir of Bukhara surrounded by Tsarist troops through the American response to 9/11. It's not that the years were uneventful, as the region struggled through the collapse of Russian Empire and its replacement by the even less tolerant Soviets, as Islam struggled in opposition. Some of this is well known--how Stalin drew national boundaries to keep ethnicities weak, the uprooting of people to work where he thought cotton would grow. What Moncia Whitlock's singular achievement here is find families who would talk to her and documents that tell the story of how Central Asians survived those long, often bloody, always cruel years of domination by the Russians, followed by the violence of the Soviet departure, which resulted in Afghan and Tajik civil wars.
Central Asia is a haunting region. Somehow I continue to imagine naively that there must have been a third way between fundamentalist Marxism and an Islam hardened by long repression. Perhaps that illusion is fostered by the evening I spend teaching English to some Uzbeki refugees on the anniversary of the date on which their government had denied their right to protest with tanks. They'd had to flee and hadn't seen their families in the following year, much of it spent in a Romanian camp. They were largely small businessmen and one very witty taxi driver. For them, I wish there had been another way than the apparatchik who took over when the Soviet Union dissolved.

[Rick Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history focusing primarily on Uzbekistan and Tajikstan in the 20th Century, along with the developments in Russia and Afghanistan that affected the society and politics of Central Asia. The author weave a generational tale of the power struggles and transitions, relying on the stories of Muslim scholars who tried to preserve their own history and traditions through that time.

The story begins in the era of the Czars, takes us through the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, and concludes with the American war in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

This kept my attention even as it juggled a big cast of historic figures across a large region of the world that I, like probably most Americans, don't know much about.

[Alex Zito · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whitlock does an unparalleled job (in English sources anyway) of tracing the continuities of intergenerational violence, displacement, and trauma across present day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. This is incredibly valuable for those of us without the language and cultural skills and travel experiences she has, to give context to the current realities of state repression, emergent nationalism and cultural shift/loss, and neocolonial status vis-a-vis Russia. Her love of the area and the subject come through in her ability to humanize many sides of the conflicts that emerged at the end of the USSR (and after) and offer a historical reading.

[Jennifer Pletcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written book. I was able to gain quite a bit of knowledge about this part of the world - an area I know virtually nothing about. The story isn't dry and absolutely fascinating. You cn tell how passionate the author is about this area. She does her best to weave in human interest stories. I had no idea how woven Uzbekistan and Tajikistan really were, so I am glad I found this book.

[Marley Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic and interesting look at the history of Central Asia until 2001. It is written in an engaging way, so although you learn a lot about the religion, culture, and politics of the region, the story is never dry.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Having read numerous books about this region, the author has really assembled the area's history since the beginning of Soviet times and made it readable.

[Jane Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monica Whitlock was the BBC’s Central Asia correspondent in the 1990s, back when there was some marginal interest in places outside Europe and North America where not many people were getting killed. But even then there was not that much interest in Central Asia, in those pre-Frankopan days. So they let a girl be the correspondent. I remember the fuss and bother when they let a girl be the correspondent in big bad China. Oh dear yes. Feet were stamped, tantrums were had. But I digress.

This is a workmanlike, readable and interesting history. Pre-Frankopan, it points out to us just to what extent Central Asia is the heart of the world, modern as well as ancient. The facts that its governments have never been democratic, though some of them are trying to be, and that large parts of the region have spent centuries under colonial yokes, mostly those of Russia and Britain, and also that most of its nations remain poor, is a continuing tragedy in terms of the cultures and history of the region.

Who these days knows the name of Al-Khorezm, the great mathematician in the Arabic tradition – it took 700 years for Arabic mathematics, developed mostly here, to become widely used in Europe and to supplant the cumbersome Roman system. It is from a Westernisation of the name of Al-Khorezm that we get the word ”algorithm”. Without him there would be no Facebook. Imagine that.

Who knows that the city of Khujand, the second city of Tajikistan, was built on the Syr-Darya, the great river crossed by Alexander the Great and his horsemen? They crossed that river, looked up at the mountains, and went no further north. As, it seems, everywhere Alexander went, people talk about him as if he was here only last week. “Iskandar” is not an uncommon name here.

Maybe we know the names of Tashkent, Bukhara and Samarkand, and of the great doctor Ibn al-Sina, Westernised to Avicenna. His emblem, that of a snake coiled round a medicine glass, is still the international emblem of pharmacy world wide.

Monica Whitlock reminds us of these things, if we ever knew them. Those who have read Peter Frankopan’s recent ‘Silk Roads’ books – and you have not you should - will understand that the heart of the world is not quite where perhaps they thought it was. There are good reasons why it is here that China is expanding, with its Belt and Road initiative, and why there are railway projects to link the dusty capitals of the inland Stans to the ports of Pakistan and on to Europe. All these postdate Monica Whitlock’s book. But it is in her book that you will find the history you need to take you further into a part of the world you will not regret discovering. Personal and eyewitness accounts add life to this history.

[Vlado · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is only few books about ex-USSR republics in Central Asia. This one had been on my wishlist for a long time and finally I had luck and found it for a reasonable price.
The book focuses especially on Tajikistan, with several chapters on Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. It's obvious that the author spent some time in the region of interest - her knowledge of history, politics, people, traditions in the region is remarkable. What I appreciated the most was the detailed description of civil war in Tajikistan and events that preceded it. I have no other option than to give 5 stars to this book.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good survey of Central Asia -- it's by a journalist, but has been on my list for a long time because I know scholars keep citing it approvingly. It focuses mainly on Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, and though it's heavily weighted to the post-1991 period, it does a good job of situating the region in its pre-Russian, Persian past. Good as an introduction to the region for a beginner, but people familiar with the area will get things out of it, too.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting history of a part of the world that's been invisible to me up to now. There's a nice balance of personal anecdotes and more general accountings of the facts. The time spans from before the Soviet Union to the current war in Afghanistan.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be very uneven. Some parts were quite interesting, following individuals paths across the various republics of central asia, illustrating how political events impact everyday people. But, other parts were really dry reporting on political and military events.

[Edith Lester · Rating 5 out of 5]

yet another eye opener

[Mr. Pe Mr. Pe]

this is a great book and i recommend it to everyone

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Land Beyond the River is one of the best non-academic books written about Tajikistan.