Black Garden

Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War

By: Thomas de Waal

Narrated by: Julian Elfer

Since its publication in 2003, the first edition of Black Garden has become the definitive study of how Armenia and Azerbaijan, two southern Soviet republics, were pulled into a conflict that helped bring them to independence, spell the end the Soviet Union, and plunge a region of great strategic importance into a decade of turmoil. This important volume is both a careful reconstruction of the history of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict since 1988 and on-the-spot reporting of the convoluted aftermath.

Part contemporary history, part travel book, part political analysis, the book is based on six months traveling through the south Caucasus, more than 120 original interviews in the region, Moscow, and Washington, and unique historical primary sources, such as Politburo archives. The historical chapters trace how the conflict lay unresolved in the Soviet era; how Armenian and Azerbaijani societies unfroze it; how the Politiburo failed to cope with the crisis; how the war was fought and ended; how the international community failed to sort out the conflict. What emerges is a complex and subtle portrait of a beautiful and fascinating region, blighted by historical prejudice and conflict.

©2003, 2013 New York University (P)2021 Tantor

Definitive Account of Overlooked Region

Thomas De Waal is the foremost outside expert on the Caucasus, and he is a clear writer with a lot to teach those who are willing to listen. So, much like his epic work, The Great Catastrophe, which focuses on the contemporary relationship between Armenia and Turkey and the way it has been shaped by the Armenian Genocide, this is a welcome addition to a paltry audio literature on this overlooked region of the world.

Unfortunately, it is such an obscure region that this account sometimes left me feeling lost in the weeds. So, if you wade into it, and you start to feel the same, don’t miss the final chapters, which provide more perspective. But if you are intimidated, consider making yourself an expert and listening to both his books. You may be the only one among your educated friends who knows much of anything about it, and that will make you both interesting and useful to any discussions that break out when it surely explodes again.

Great background

The final chapters haven’t aged well considering the events of 2020…but it is now more relevant for it’s dated-ness. Great book as is his great catastrophe

Interpretation of events was off

My main issue was that he really interpreted events through an Azeri lens, putting a lot of the onus for the conflict on the Armenians. It was a fairly gross misinterpretation of the history of the conflict.