A kaleidoscopic portrait of Georgia's capital city since 1989.
Located on Europe's periphery, at the edge of Asia, Tbilisi has always been a crossroads of culture, peoples and politics. From architecture to art, protest to religion, nationalism to language, this book offers a pen portrait of the modern Georgian capital-a city where old and new live side by side in restless harmony.
Tbilisi has played an outsize role in modern global politics. Beginning in 1989, Maximilian Hess shows how the city's experiences over the last four decades shed light on the historical, political and cultural forces shaping the world today. Momentous events in Tbilisi helped drive the collapse of the Soviet Union, and this was where the neoliberal era of the early 2000s found its firmest foothold. The city's post-Soviet years also foreshadowed the devastation that Russian interference and aggression have now brought to Ukraine, while the rise and subsequent dominance of a Georgian billionaire-turned-politician have clear echoes across the Atlantic.
Delving into Tbilisi's remarkably great influence on contemporary music and the arts, Hess showcases the intriguing capital's entrept nature, and its turbulent recent history. This is a place which blurs the lines between the real and the imagined; between past and present, East and West.
Table of Contents:
Map Recurring Characters Foreword Introduction 1. From Freedom Square, by Way of Kamikaze Loggias 2. Mtatsminda Pantheon: Heroes and Martyrs 3. From the Tbilisi War to the Splintering State 4. Metekhi Palace Hotel: Jockeying for Power 5. Andropov’s Ears: Culture and Counterculture 6. Bridges from the Brink of Ruin to the Brink of Revolution 7. The Liberty Institute: From Frustration to Defiance 8. Mother of Georgia: Building the New Nation 9. Shardeni Street and Saburtalo Street: The Dark Underside of the Rose Revolution 10. Vake Park: The New Nationalism 11. Where is the Modern Art Museum? The Spectacle of Power and Protest 12. Chronicles Of Georgia Monument: The Unfinished State 13. Gabriadze Puppet Theatre: Either Prison or Exile 14. Tbilisi Zoo: Ivanishvili’s Shadow 15. Café Gallery and Bassiani: Between Aspirations and Realities 16. Back to Rustaveli: The Fight for Freedom, Finances and the Future Afterword Notes Index
About the Author :
Maximilian Hess founded the political risk consultancy Enmetena Advisory. His first book, Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict Between Russia and the West (also published by Hurst), was awarded the Fletcher USRussia Relations Book Prize. His writing has appeared in Al Jazeera, The New Statesman, the Financial Times and others. He lives in London with his beloved Airedale terrier, Koba.
