Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan

Dark Shadows is a compelling portrait of Kazakhstan, a country that is little known in the West. Strategically located in the heart of Central Asia, sandwiched between Vladimir Putin’s Russia, its former colonial ruler, and Xi Jinping’s China, this vast oil-rich state is carving out its place in the world as it contends with its own complex past and present. Journalist Joanna Lillis paints a vibrant picture of this emerging nation through vivid reportage based on 13 years of on-the-ground coverage, and travels across the length and breadth of this enigmatic country that lies along the ancient Silk Road and at the geopolitical and cultural crossroads where East meets West. Featuring tales of murder and abduction, intrigue and betrayal, extortion and corruption, this book explores how a president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, transformed himself into a potentate and the economically-struggling state he inherited at the fall of the USSR into a swaggering 21st-century monocracy. A colourful cast of characters brings the politics to life: from strutting oligarch to sleeping villagers, from principled politicians to striking oilmen, from crusading journalists to courageous campaigners. Traversing dust-blown deserts and majestic mountains, taking in glitzy cities and dystopian landscapes, Dark Shadows conjures up Kazakhstan as a living, breathing place, full of extraordinary people living extraordinary lives.

Table of Contents:
PART 1 – THE MAKING OF A POTENTATE 1. Arise, Kazakhstan 2. A Family Affair 3. Don’t Mess with the Boss 4. Fault-Lines in the Feel-Good Factor 5. Publish and Be Damned 6. Bread and Circuses 7. Back to the USSR 8. Stop the Presses PART 2 – IDENTITY CRISIS 9. Kingdom of the Kazakhs 10. Mother Russia 11. Death to the Past 12. The Gulag Archipelago 13. Exile of the Innocents 14. Sparks of Tension 15. December of Discontent 16. Lure of the Land 17. Homeward Bound PART 3 – STORIES FROM THE STEPPE 18. Keeping the Faith 19. Opium of the People 20. Culture Wars 21. The Curse of Corruption 22. The Shrinking Sea 23. The Wasteland 24. The Ranch 25. The Slumbering Steppe 26. The Collective Farm Bibliography

About the Author :
Joanna Lillis is a Kazakhstan-based journalist reporting on Central Asia whose work has featured in the Guardian, The Economist and the Independent newspapers, the Eurasianet website and Foreign Policy and POLITICO magazines. Prior to settling in Kazakhstan in 2005, she lived in Russia and Uzbekistan between 1995 and 2005, and worked for BBC Monitoring, the BBC World Service's global media tracking service. While completing a BA in Modern Languages at the University of Leeds, she studied Russian in the Soviet republics of Belorussia and Ukraine before the collapse of the USSR, and has an MA in Interpreting and Translation from the University of Bradford.

Review :
Lillis traveled widely across the country, carried out an impressive number of interviews, and followed several key events… She also closely explored the stories and experiences of numerous [people]... Her work demonstrates that [Kazakhstan] has become more secretive, authoritative, and oppressive. Astute, refreshing and revelatory; it is also surprisingly tender, showing not only her affection but her care in trying to make sense of a country that needs to be understood warts and all ... It is not easy to look beneath the surface and make sense of a country of such contrasts and complexities, especially one that is in transition. You don’t need a book about Kazakhstan to realise that the world is changing; but reading Dark Shadows is a great place to start for anyone wanting to see how and why Central Asia matters in the 21st century. Dark Shadows reads like a thriller. Lillis knows exactly how to investigate and tell stories, which characters readers will relate to or abhor, and how sources need to be interrogated & balanced. This is a fine book, beautifully written and with just the right blend of affection and censure. Lillis has rendered a great public service by dispelling some of the myths and caricatures that have gathered around Kazakhstan, which remains one of the world’s least well-understood countries. Through in-depth interviews and good access to a range of Kazakh public figures, the book presents a powerful tale of injustice, corruption and fear ... An interesting and comprehensive addition to scholarship on Eurasia and post-Soviet and Central Asian studies at a time of renewed interest in the region at the crossroads between China and Russia. The best book in English in the last decade on developments in Kazkahstan This is the essential book about an increasingly important, but highly secretive, country. With a keen eye and sharp analysis, Joanna Lillis goes beyond the 'post-Soviet' cliches to explore the depths of Kazakhstan's politics, history and money