New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, (2002). First edition - A study of the five Central Asian republics - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan - which were part of the Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991. Although rich in both cultural heritage and natural resources - including massive oil reservoirs - Central Asia remains desperately poor and frighteningly volatile. Religious repression, political corruption, and the regions extreme poverty (unemployment rates exceed 80 percent in some areas) have created a fertile climate for militant Islamic fundamentalism. Maps, notes, glossary, index. xiv, 271 pp.