Russian Central Asia 1867-1917: A Study in Colonial Rule

Russian Central Asia, 1867–1917: A Study in Colonial Rule by Richard A. Pierce surveys the half-century between the creation of the Governor-Generalship of Turkestan and the fall of the Romanovs, treating the region as a “laboratory” of late-imperial colonial rule. Pierce maps the terrain—vast steppe, desert basins, and oasis belts—and sketches the peoples (Kazakhs, Kirgiz, Turkmen, Uzbeks, Tadzhiks, and others), their economies (pastoral nomadism and irrigated agriculture), and the climati...