Georgia is the most Western-looking state in today's Near or Middle East and, despite having one of the longest, most turbulent histories in the Christian or Near Eastern world, no proper history of the country has been written for decades.  Meer

The great Russian explorer Nikolay Przhevalsky (1839-1888) made an indelible contribution to the world's atlases, and its store of zoological and botanical knowledge, as a consequence of his four arduous and dangerous expeditions through the Central Asia of Western Mongolia, Eastern Turkestan and Northern Tibet.  Meer

Anton Chekhov's life was short, he was only forty-four when he died, and dogged with ill-health but his plays and short stories assure him of his place in the literary pantheon.  Meer

The first comprehensive and objective history of the literature of Georgia, revealed to be unique among those of the former Byzantine and Russian empires, both in its quality and its 1500 years' history.  Meer

Stalin, like Hitler and other tyrants, won and held power because he had collaborators - hangmen. Drawing on newly released archival material, Donald Rayfield gives us a fuller and more colourful picture of Stalin's inner circle than ever before.  Meer

Designed to enhance the understanding of those who read Chekhov's stories or watch his plays. This book aims to reveal the levels of meaning and intention, the interpretations that can be made, and to bring out Chekhov's many connections to European prose and drama.  Meer

Now available in paperback, this is the first comprehensive history of Georgia for decades, focusing not only on the post-Soviet era but on the full sweep of its turbulent past.  Meer