Ronald Grigor Suny

"This timely and pathbreaking work shows how and why the dramatic collapse of the Soviet Union was caused in large part by nationalism, that is, by the demands of the subject nationalities of the Soviet Union for independence and autonomy. Unified in their hostility to the Kremlin's authority, the fifteen constituent Union Republics, including the Russian Republic, declared their sovereignty and began to build state institutions of their own. The demands of the nationalities of each republic became the dominant motifs in the programs of both Communist and non-Communist leaders. With the failure of the August 1991 putsch attempt, sovereign republics obtained their complete independence. Nationalism reigned supreme." "The book has a dual purpose. The first is to explore the formation of nations within the Soviet Union, the policies of the Soviet Union toward non-Russian peoples, and the ultimate contradictions between those policies and the development of nations. The second, more general purpose is to show how nations have grown in the twentieth century. The author argues that nations are "imagined communities," the products of historical processes and the languages and discourses of nationalism, rather than being "natural," eternal, or primordial identities. The principle of nationality that buried the Soviet Union and destroyed its empire in Eastern Europe continues to shape and reshape the configuration of states and political movements among the new independent countries of the vast East European-Eurasian region."--BOOK JACKET.

Like the other republics floating free after the demise of the Soviet empire, the independent republic of Georgia is reinventing its past, recovering what was forgotten or distorted during the long years of Russian and Soviet rule. Whether Georgia can successfully be transformed from a society rent by conflict into a pluralistic democratic nation will depend on Georgians' rethinking their history. This is the first comprehensive treatment of Georgian history, from the ethnogenesis of the Georgians in the first millenium B. C., through the period of Russian and Soviet rule in the nineteenth and twentieth centures, to the emergence of an independent republic in 1991, the ethnic and civil warfare that has ensued, and perspectives for Georgia's future. -- from back cover.

"Caucasia marks the meeting place of East and West, Europe and Asia, Christendom and Islam. Indeed, the Caucasus Mountains are home to a bewildering diversity of languages and ethnicities. In the imaginations of multiple cultures and civilizations— Greek, Slavic, Arabic, Turkic, and Persian, to name a few—the region has served as a realm of legend and myth. Yet at the same time, Caucasia can also serve as a mirror to the outside, a site where one can trace the unfolding of processes that have shaped the broader world. Five leading scholars from around the globe explore the interaction of empires, peoples, and faiths in Caucasia throughout the centuries" -- Provided by publisher's website.

"One hundred years after the deportations and mass murder of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, and other peoples in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, the history of the Armenian genocide is a victim of historical distortion, state-sponsored falsification, and deep divisions between Armenians and Turks. Working together for the first time, Turkish, Armenian, and other scholars present here a compelling reconstruction of what happened and why. This volume gathers the most up-to-date scholarship on the Armenian genocide, looking at how the event has been written about in Western and Turkish historiographies; what was happening on the eve of the catastrophe; portraits of the perpetrators; detailed accounts of the massacres; how the event has been perceived in both local and international contexts, including World War I; and reflections on the broader implications of what happened then. The result is a comprehensive work that moves beyond nationalist master narratives and offers a more complete understanding of this tragic event."--Jacket.

The Structure of Soviet History is a unique collection of primary documents and important scholarly articles that tell the fascinating and tragic story of Russia's twentieth century. Ronald Grigor Suny, an eminent historian and political scientist, has compiled pieces that illustrate the revolutionary changes as well as the broad continuities in Soviet History. Not only does he tell the story of Russian people but also of the other Soviet peoples, the nationalities that also made up the tsarist and Soviet empires and formed independent states in the early 1990s.

This volume, containing chapters in French (some translated from Arabic) and others in English, is a collective work, diverse and dynamic, analyzing symbolic, discursive, archival, oral and archaeological data regarding the Palestinian social formation through time and space. Its authors, who include internationally recognized specialists as well as young scholars from the occupied territories, have in common their critique of established paradigms, based on a reading of data in the light of contemporary theoretical breakthroughs. The contributions were edited by Roger Heacock, professor of history at Birzeit University, author of Towards a New Tricontinental? Shifting Perspectives and Realities in the International System (Birzeit, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute), of the series “Internationaliste en Palestine” and of “ Ma zilna huna: nous sommes toujours là” (Confluences-Méditerranée).

Being national is the condition of our times, yet never before has the idea of the nation been under such scrutiny. With the collapse of the bi-polar world of the Cold War, there has also been a parallel rise in the subnational - the claims of local, regional and ethnic minorities - economic globalization, American cultural hegemony, international migration, and diasporization. In Becoming National Geoff Eley and Ronald Grigor Suny, two of the foremost authorities on nationalism, acknowledge these changes by combining a diverse selection of readings with a unifying introduction and instructive headnotes that move the discussion of nationalism onto a new and contemporary level. Each group of readings is introduced by a brief historical essay, and the readings are fully annotated. Emphasizing the recent intellectual advances and influential ideas of Miroslav Hroch, Benedict Anderson, Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall, Lauren Berlant and a host of others, this book underscores the nineteenth and twentieth century nationalist theories to show not only where scholars of nationalism have been but where they are going. Drawing on the strengths of recent cultural studies, including race and gender identities, the editors show that though politics is the ground upon which nationalism is constructed, culture is the terrain on which it is elaborated and fought over.

"Starting in early 1915, the Ottoman Turks began deporting and killing hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the first major genocide of the twentieth century. By the end of the First World War, the number of Armenians in what would become Turkey had been reduced by ninety percent--more than a million people. A century later, the Armenian Genocide remains controversial but relatively unknown, overshadowed by later slaughters and the chasm separating Turkish and Armenian versions of events. In this definitive narrative history, Ronald Suny cuts through nationalist myths, propaganda, and denial to provide an unmatched account of when, how, and why the atrocities of 1915-16 were committed. As it lost territory during the war, the Ottoman Empire was becoming a more homogenous Turkic-Muslim state, but it still contained large non-Muslim communities, including the Christian Armenians. The Young Turk leaders of the empire believed that the Armenians were internal enemies secretly allied to Russia and plotting to win an independent state. Suny shows that the great majority of Armenians were in truth loyal subjects who wanted to remain in the empire. But the Young Turks, steeped in imperial anxiety and anti-Armenian bias, became convinced that the survival of the state depended on the elimination of the Armenians. Suny is the first to explore the psychological factors as well as the international and domestic events that helped lead to genocide. Drawing on archival documents and eyewitness accounts, this is an unforgettable chronicle of a cataclysm that set a tragic pattern for a century of genocide and crimes against humanity"--