This book was written by a Lady that lives in Southern California named Azade-Ayse Rorlich. I haven't met her, but I'm told she makes appearances at Los Angeles Tatar events. It is published under the auspices of the Hoover Institute at Stanford University. In the tower of the Hoover Institute there is a tower containing a Russian Language Library. Years ago, when desperately looking for ANY books written in Tatar I went there. There is a shelf there full of Tatar books, about 5 feet wide. The books are all written in Arabic alphabet, Tatar language. The director of the Library, The large redheaded Irish or Scottish American man said to me, "If you can get a grant to do it, I'd love you to go through these and tell us what we have here." Looking back at what I'd seen I'd guess that most of those books were published in Tokyo maybe. (I may be wrong)
I loaned this book to an American friend, who I'd consider to be intelligent and well read. He told me he learned very little about us from this book. The first time I read it, I was able to walk away with very little as well. Over time the information in this book became more relevant to me. I think the book is quite good. Perhaps someone needs to publish a book about Tatars that's more palatable to those that are less sophisticated in their knowledge of Russia and Russian history?
I loaned this book to an American friend, who I'd consider to be intelligent and well read. He told me he learned very little about us from this book. The first time I read it, I was able to walk away with very little as well. Over time the information in this book became more relevant to me. I think the book is quite good. Perhaps someone needs to publish a book about Tatars that's more palatable to those that are less sophisticated in their knowledge of Russia and Russian history?
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