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*
Kazakhstan is a geopolitically important country on which very
little has been written, so [this] new reference source is
welcomed.
*s*
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