The Lone Wolf And the Bear: Three Centuries of Chechen Defiance of Russian Rule

by Moshe Gammer

The Lone Wolf and the Bear examines the Russo-Chechen conflict, from early Russian expansion into the Caucasus in the sixteenth century to the current war between Russia and Chechnya.  Moshe Gammer offers a comprehensive study of modern Chechen history, its people and cultures, and the factors of Russo/Soviet influence and modernization that have molded Chechen self-perception and enflamed the passions of separatism.  Perhaps the most ethnically diverse region in the world, Chechnya claims over seventy native groups, yet it is unified in its opposition to Russian control and the quest for nationhood. Through difficult research (many historic documents on Chechnya have been destroyed by Russian authorities, and Chechen documentation is scarce), Gammer assembles the stories of a fiercely independent people and their three-hundred-year struggle against domination by the world power of Russia, a conflict that continues today.

Genres: Russia, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2005

Reviews

[Heather Reads Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic. Deeply interesting and meticulously researched, Gammer gives a comprehensive history of the Chechen people and their volatile relationship with Russia over the last several centuries. It also brings some badly needed neutrality to the subject, as the author notes that many sources over time have been tainted by bias in one direction or another. (I myself have struggled to find reliable sources that don't veer into Islamophobia, and found this book to be a breath of fresh air in that regard.) As a primer it is great -- and his well-catalogued references have given me jumping off points for other aspects of my research.

To be clear, this is definitely a historian's work -- it doesn't try to achieve narrative accessibility for the layperson. But if you're a history nerd like me, and you've had questions about the North Caucasus that more casual research couldn't answer, this is a wonderful place to start.

[Noxchiswag · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a treasure and the closest thing to the definitive history of Chechen conflict with Russia up through the fall of the USSR. This book should be standard, required reading for anyone seeking to learn about Chechen history. For anyone able to handle its level of writing (the book is both amazingly well written like a story, yet incredibly dense with information while still being concise), this should be the first book you read on the subject.

This is absolutely, and without doubt, a book that every Chechen and Ingush youth and adult should read. No exceptions.

[Andrew Weitzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The mistakes of the [previous] campaigns were not only repeated but intensified... Since we learned nothing from the past, we have repeated previous mistakes, and again have no decisive successes" -Soviet military staff on yet another failed campaign in Chechnya.

This sums up Russia's relationship with Chechnya as written in this compelling history by Moshe Gammer. If you're interested in the historical context of the conflict in the caucuses that continues to this day, this is a must-read.

[Kevin Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many books treat this subject briefly, but this is one of the only books that goes into the roots of the conflict in tsarist expansionism. For that alone, this is a great book.