Claws of the crab: Georgia and Armenia in crisis

by Stephen Brook

A report from the front line in Georgia as civil war erupts throughout the former Soviet Union. Posing as a foreign correspondent, the author travels through the Caucasus, surveying the blockade of Azerbaijan, the turmoil in Armenia and the plight of civilized people desperate to halt the chaos.

Genres: Travel

288 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1993

About the author

Stephen Brook has been a contributing editor to Decanter since 1996 and has won a clutch of awards for his writing on wine. The author of more than 30 books, his works include Complete Bordeaux, now the definitive study of the region and in its third edition, and The Wines of California, which won three awards. His most recently published book is The Wines of Austria. Brook also fully revised the last two editions of Hugh Johnson’s Wine Companion, and he writes for magazines in many countries.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brook was in Georgia and Armenia during their post-Soviet conflicts, and writes about his experiences here. Considering the situation of open conflict, it is odd that he constantly is complaining about the living situation of Tbilisi, which was seeing open street warfare. Things like lack of hot water in the hotel, limited food options, power outages, all which one should expect during a time like this, yet Brooks makes amble complaints about this, and it becomes quite distracting. The book is valuable as a first-hand account of how things were in Tbilisi, Yerevan, and Stepanakert in Nagorno-Karabakh, but his overall story is clouded by the whining.