This is the first guide to represent all three caucasian nations in one book. However it does not take into account the sensitivity of some of the issues among the three nations and could have been much more accurate. Nagorno Karabakh is still de jure a part of Azerbaijan and including it in armenian section contributes even more to widening the gap between the two nations. Nagorno Karabakh indeed is a very sensitive subject and i would urge the unsophisticated visitor to do some extensive research prior to making conclusions. I am not surprised to find the armenian reviewer insulting the Georgian and the Azeri one. What can you do: armenian extreme national chauvinism blinds them. Indeed, if you look at the map of caucasus and do some research you will notice that armenia has problems with each one of its neighbors except for Iran. This is the kind of discussion that LP book leads us towards and to avoid it i urge everyone interested in the region to turn to Elliot book.

I normally like LP books. But for this region you should instead buy the Bradt Guide (for Georgia) or the one from Trailblazer (for Azerbaijan & Georgia). The reasons are clear from all the other reviews here!

The Lonely Planet Guide to "Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan" is the first mainstream travel guide to the physically beautiful South Caucasus Region of the world. Who, but Lonely Planet, would tackle such an interesting, volatile, and ultimately majestic part of the world. The book is split into four separate sections (the three Republics and the Armenian Region of Nagorno Karabagh). It follows a fairly standard Lonely Planet formula of being an attractive asthetic product complete with pictures, a language guide, and history.

That being said, I believe that the book needs a mixture of tweaking and more insight in some areas. The one glaring problem with the book is the lack of information provided in the Armenian section. The Georgian section of the book has nearly double the coverage of Armenia. This may be attributed to the fact that one of the authors penning the Georgian section, Keti Japaridze, is an ethnic Georgian. My guess is that she had a bit more insight, and ultimately material, to offer in this book. Even so, the Georgian section fails to give credit where credit is due. For instance, the inventor of the Georgian alphabet, an Armenian named Mesrop Mashtots is not mentioned as being the architect of the Georgian alphabet. (He also invented the Armenian and Ethiopian alphabets). Nor is there any mention of Armenians being the main influence for their church architecture and much of their folk art. This exclusion of proper historical perspective may be attributed to an author writing for the "home team" as they say. Otherwise, the entry is an entertaining travel guide to one of the more picturesque countries one may ever visit.

As mentioned before, the Armenia section is scant. A mere 54 pages, it covers the basics yet lacks any real depth to make it compelling stuff. It touches all the bases and has some useful information in terms of all the things that one would expect from a guidebook including food, lodging, attractions, and modes of transportation. However, it comes up short compared the lengthy Georgian section. In any event, it is the only guidebook out there on this ancient nation and I suspect in future editions more will be added. Perhaps an Armenian could be used as a consultant to provide more insight and attractions in a country that boasts the culture, history,and scenery as their trademarks. In my opinion, Armenia is the most majestic location of the three Republics with the least to worry about in terms of safety, accessability, or hospitality.

Azerbaijan is given ample coverage, but once again succumbs to a lack of any real historican accuracy in it's overview. The least friendly or appealing of the three destinations, Azerbaijan nevertheless is an interesting place to visit. The guide keeps pointing out fact about " Azeri history and its people" as if they as an ethnicity go back before the early 1900's. This, of course is inaccurate. The ethnicity know as Azeri's or Azerbaijan for that matter, never existed before the creation of the Soviet Republic in 1923. Knowing this, some of the historical excerpts are preposterous. However, as with the Armenian section, it is a first attempt to promote and present the Caucasus as a destination spot for travellers. From that perspective, the Azerbaijani section is adequate to good.

This book is a good start for people interested in a truly facinating look at three unique countries. Some serious historical oversights and omissions hinder this book. It seems the Armenians get slighted in this edition terms of content and historical accuracy when dealing with presence and influents in both Georgian and Azerbiajani culture. ( Armenians had a prominent role in the architectural and cultural advancement of both Baku and Tblisi). However, these things usually happen in first editions of lands never really explored in mainstream travel books. So, I can cut these folks some slack. Nevertheless, this book is better than what we previously had, which was nothing.

Updated on 5-18-02: To my critics on this books published in this section, particulary Mr. Fuad and the person dubiously named Khaka: "I am usually pretty open minded and fair when it comes to either a historical debate or a challenge, but, seeing as though you can't string together two words that are either spelled correctly or even pass the basic guidelines of competantcy, I'll leave you be. Also, the problem with people such as yourself (whoever you are) is that you can't seem to fathom the idea of historical accuracy. Now run along Khaka (I bet it sucks to have a name like that) and Fuad. "

can't do better in faking information, historical fact and contemporary events... certainly not a book for a historical research...

This book is the collection of lies. The writer has no idea about what is going on in that region. It is his imagination. Too bad that these kind of books still are being published.

have never in my life seen a bigger lie..... Very sad that people nowadays change history in their own aims.

This may be a great work. I ordered it, and discovered it's mostly a facsimile of the 1886 (or so) work. In the original Armenian. The text is so fuzzy, that I can't even begin trying to translate or even look for patterns to identify names. If you don't read Armenian, pass on this. The intro contains some information, and reveals that there are huge gaps in the presented chronology, spanning hundreds of years. If you were looking to use the work for genealogical research, you won't find help beyond Derenik being the father of Ashot, Gagik, and Gurgen....

Any work on Caucasus is based on Soviet authors .They got scientific rewards for DISTORTION OF CAUCASIAN HISTORY.Local authors KNOW the truth, but write lies.Poor non caucasian authors are led astray by their lies and decieve the readers.THE UNO, the OSCE are decieved and will be ashamed of their resolutions on Abkhazians because they are the Georgians, but are treated as nongeorgians.The aim of the liers was to weaken the Georgians being the only indigenous nation in south Caucasus.The Armenians are imposed immigrants from non caucasian territories of Iran and Turkey,and the Azerbaijan ethnos was invented in 1936 and consist of Tartar, Turkish, Jevanhsir, Lezgin,Kurdish and other mostly nomadic tribes of vast Eurasian territories.A non caucasian cannot write a proper book about Caucasus.A truthful bookes were published in Tbilisi in Georgian:PROF. TEIMURAS MIBCHUANI-"ABKHAZIANS",1996,200pages, Prof. GERONTI GASVIANI, "ABKHAZIANS",1998,Prof. BADRI GOGIA AND JEMAL GAMAKHARIA "ABKHAZIA-DOCUMENTS ON ALL LANGUAGES TRANSLATED INTO RUSSIAN,TBILISI,614 pages,my booklet is being printed in ENGLISH,RUSSIAN AND GEORGIAN in TBILISI AND IN NEW YORK - "CAUCASUS AND PROF. IVANE JAVAKHISHVILI". Dr. NATELA POPKHADZE,TBILISI,GEORGIA

Unless you are already well versed in the topic of Armenian art, do not get this book. Every page it mentions about 20 names, and it only tells you who about half of those people are. It quickly jumps from topic to topic, making it difficult to follow. Finally, the language that it uses is extremely difficult to understand, both the vocabulary and sentence structure. There are other boooks out there, and they must be better. Pass on this one.