{"title":"Books by Christoph Baumer","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780755650446","title":"Rock Art and its Legacy in Myth and Art","description":"\u003cp\u003eRock art is mankind’s oldest artistic expression. The first creation of rock carvings (petroglyphs) and rock paintings (pictographs) by \u003ci\u003eHomo sapiens\u003c\/i\u003e represented on multiple counts a quantum leap in mental performance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eRock Art and its Legacy in Myth and Art\u003c\/i\u003e Christoph Baumer tells the story of these remarkable creations of early human imagination in Eurasia, Arabia and the Sahara. Petroglyphs not only reflect societal and economic adaptations to climate changes but also encapsulate the worldviews, myths and rituals that prevailed for tens of thousands of years, and even down to the present. In a final chapter the artist Therese Weber describes the work of contemporary artists from different cultures who engage with rock art and introduces her own work which is inspired by her exploration of petroglyphs. Vividly illustrated throughout with 340 full colour images and 10 maps, this book is a celebration of the legacy of petroglyphs as a means of expression and of recording events and coded messages, as well as a source of inspiration for modern-day artists.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55896347345269,"sku":"9780755650446","price":30.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780755650446_2b61d4f5-d67f-4c8f-8677-c3b8001e9110.jpg?v=1786015701"},{"product_id":"9781780760605","title":"The History of Central Asia","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe epic plains and arid deserts of Central Asia have witnessed some of the greatest migrations, as well as many of the most transformative developments, in the history of civilization. Christoph Baumer's ambitious four-volume treatment of the region charts the 3000-year drama of Scythians and Sarmatians; Soviets and transcontinental Silk Roads; trade routes and the transmission of ideas across the steppes; and the breathless and brutal conquests of Alexander the Great and Chinghiz Khan. Masterfully interweaving the stories of individuals and peoples, the author's engaging prose is richly augmented throughout by colour photographs taken on his own travels. For all the complexity of the history, Dr Baumer, a noted authority on Central Asia, never loses sight of the sweeping grandeur of its overall setting. Volume 1 focuses on the geography of the area now occupied by present-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, northern Afghanistan, western and central Mongolia and parts of southern Russia and northern China.\u003cbr\u003eDiscussing the changing climates of the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Ages, the author explores subjects as diverse as glacial retreat; the invention of the wheel; the legendary Cimmerians and Amazons; Hellenism and Zoroastrianism; and the Oxus Treasure. Future volumes will explore the later historical periods of the region.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56303339405685,"sku":"9781780760605","price":90.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781780760605_2d54148b-487c-4cc1-8e0e-cafe433b208e.jpg?v=1786025352"},{"product_id":"9781788310079","title":"History of the Caucasus","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Magnificent [and] wondrous.”\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Spectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Rich and illuminating.\" \u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ePhenomenally\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e accurate.\" \u003ci\u003eHistory Today \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Stunning.\" \u003ci\u003eThe Morning Star\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Sweeping.\" \u003ci\u003eThe New European\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"A wonderful book.\" \u003ci\u003eCurrent World \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eArchaeology\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"In a class of its own.\" \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Caspian Post\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA landscape of high mountains and narrow valleys stretching from the Black to the Caspian Seas, the Caucasus region has been home to human populations for nearly 2 million years. In this richly illustrated 2-volume series, historian and explorer Christoph Baumer tells the story of the region’s history through to the present day. It is a story of encounters between many different peoples, from Scythians, Turkic and Mongol peoples of the East to Greeks and Romans from the West, from Indo-European tribes from the West as well as the East, and to Arabs and Iranians from the South. It is a story of rival claims by Empires and nations and of how the region has become home to more than 50 languages that can be heard within its borders to this very day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis first volume charts the period from the emergence of the earliest human populations in the region – the first known human populations outside Africa - to the Seljuk conquests of 1050CE. Along the way the book charts the development of Neolithic, Iron and Bronze Age cultures, the first recognizable Caucasian state and the arrival of a succession of the great transnational Empires, from the Greeks, the Romans and the Armenian to competing Christian and Muslim conquerors. \u003ci\u003eThe History of the Caucasus: Volume 1 \u003c\/i\u003ealso includes more than 200 full colour images and maps bringing the changing cultures of these lands vividly to life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56305744150901,"sku":"9781788310079","price":30.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781788310079_b417e763-48bf-484b-af69-de82fcc64a34.jpg?v=1786026844"},{"product_id":"9781788310499","title":"History of Central Asia","description":"For more than a hundred years, Central Asia was the heartland of the mightiest military power on the planet. But after the fragmentation of the all-conquering Mongol polity, the region began a steep decline which rendered this former domain of horse lords peripheral to world affairs. The process of deterioration reached its nadir in the second half of the nineteenth century, when the former territories and sweeping steppes of the great khans were overrun by Tsarist Russia. In the concluding volume of his acclaimed Central Asia quartet, Christoph Baumer shows how China in the east, and Russia in the northwest, succeeded in throwing off the Mongol yoke to become the masters of their own previous rulers. He suggests that, as traditional transcontinental trade routes declined in importance, it was the `Great Game' - or cold war between Imperial Russia and Great Britain - which finally brought Central Asia back into play as a region of strategic importance. This epic history concludes with an assessment of the transition to modern independence of the Central Asian states and their struggle to contain radical Islamism.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56306828673397,"sku":"9781788310499","price":55.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781788310499_b6a2e9a5-a3ac-49e2-bbf3-9197315c8f17.jpg?v=1786026844"},{"product_id":"9780755636280","title":"History of the Caucasus","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eIn the Shadow of Great Powers\u003c\/i\u003e is the second volume of Christoph Baumer’s \u003ci\u003eHistory of the Caucasus\u003c\/i\u003e. It covers the period from the Seljuk domination of the Southern Caucasus around 1050 CE to the present day. After the Kingdom of Georgia’s golden age of independent power and cultural blossoming in the 12th and early 13th centuries, the Caucasus was overrun by the Mongols and soon disintegrated into innumerable smaller kingdoms, principalities and khanates. At the same time, an Armenian kingdom in exile maintained a precarious independence in Cilicia, today’s southern Turkey, by applying a three-way diplomatic policy balanced between the Mongol Il-Khanate, the Crusader states and, to a lesser degree, the Mameluke Empire. Then followed four centuries during which the highly fragmented polities of the North and South Caucasus became political pawns of the regional great powers, above all the Ottomans, Iran and Russia. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the wake of World War I the South Caucasus enjoyed a short-lived independence whereas its northern neighbours were engulfed by the Russian civil wars. But by 1921 the Soviet Union had re-established Russian dominance over the whole region and, from a Western perspective, the region ‘disappeared’ behind the Iron Curtain. Nevertheless, the Caucasian nations kept their pronounced identities even under Soviet rule, giving rise at the dissolution of the Soviet Union to a number of internecine conflicts. Whereas the Russian Federation managed to maintain its supremacy over the North Caucasus – albeit at the cost of bloody wars and insurrections – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia succeeded in more or less gaining control over their destiny. Of these three republics, only Azerbaijan secured a wide-ranging independence thanks to its fossil fuel resources. Following Russian interference, Georgia lost control over two of its provinces while Armenia remains dependent on Russian support in the face of its notoriously antagonistic relations with neighbouring Azerbaijan and Turkey over the unresolved issue of Karabakh. \u003ci\u003eIn the Shadow of Great Powers\u003c\/i\u003e includes some 200 full-colour images and maps which further bring the turbulent history of this region to light.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311922000245,"sku":"9780755636280","price":40.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780755636280_40a4c8fc-7b8d-442b-a64d-0d7bef474194.jpg?v=1786015638"},{"product_id":"9781780768328","title":"The History of Central Asia","description":"The Age of the Silk Roads (c 200 BC- c 900 AD) shaped the course of the future. The foundation by the Han dynasty of an extensive network of interlinking trade routes, collectively known as the Silk Road, led to an explosion of cultural and commercial transactions across Central Asia that had a profound impact on civilization. In this second volume of his authoritative history of the region, Christoph Baumer explores the unique flow of goods, peoples and ideas along the dusty tracks and wandering caravan routes that brought European and Mediterranean orbits into contact with Asia. The Silk Roads, the author shows, enabled the spread across the known world of Christianity, Manichaeism, Buddhism and Islam, just as earlier they had caused Roman citizens to crave the exotic silk goods of the mysterious Far East. Tracing the rise and fall of empires, this richly illustrated book charts the ebb and flow of epic history: the bitter rivalry of Rome and Parthia; the lucrative mercantile empire of the Sogdians; the founding of Samarkand; and Chinese defeat at the Battle of Talas (751 AD) by the forces of Islam.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312804409717,"sku":"9781780768328","price":55.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781780768328_4d5d9c0b-81c0-45f2-a978-bd934df0c2de.jpg?v=1786025363"},{"product_id":"history-of-central-asia","title":"The History of Central Asia","description":"Between the ninth and the fifteenth centuries, Central Asia was a major political, economic and cultural hub on the Eurasian continent. In the first half of the thirteenth century it was also the pre-eminent centre of power in the largest land-based empire the world has ever seen. This third volume of Christoph Baumer's extensively praised and lavishly illustrated new history of the region is above all a story of invasion, when tumultuous and often brutal conquest profoundly shaped the later history of the globe. The author explores the rise of Islam and the remarkable victories of the Arab armies which - inspired by their vital, austere and egalitarian desert faith - established important new dynasties like the Seljuks, Karakhanids and Ghaznavids. A golden age of artistic, literary and scientific innovation came to a sudden end when, between 1219 and 1260, Genghiz Khan and his successors overran the Chorasmian-Abbasid lands. Dr Baumer shows that the Mongol conquests, while shattering to their enemies, nevertheless resulted in much greater mercantile and cultural contact between Central Asia and Western Europe.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57487763538293,"sku":"9781784534905","price":90.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781784534905.jpg?v=1786354988"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-christoph-baumer.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}