Samarkand, located along the Silk Road, has a history that is often
confused with a fabled image of the East. This book, however, deals with
a real city, narrating the changes that took place while it was part of
the USSR and in the period following, all the way up to the present. In
Samarkand, the passage between these two eras reflects the broader
transformation that affected Uzbekistan and the other Central Asian
countries, which were internal colonies, first of Russia and then of the
Soviet Union, before becoming independent states. Step by step, the
reader enters the city, its various districts, private homes, public
places, and hears the stories of diverse individuals and families. Based
on archival records, interviews and photographs, the book traces the
changes in cultures and ways of life in Samarkand over this period, and
investigates the tensions of the post-Soviet years. The Russians
vanished from the city they had colonised or guided through the years of
Soviet modernisation, as did many populations that had been deported
there during the Second World War, and various local minorities. The
city experienced a period of profound crisis, was transformed in terms
of the composition of its population, constructed a new national image,
rewrote its history and finally emerged ready to receive tourists with
their cameras.
