This book list is supplemented by four posts:
Holiday Reading 2014: Central Asian Titles
Holiday Reading 2013: Central Asian Titles
Holiday Reading: Central Asian Titles (2012) and
Central Asian Art and Craft Books: Holiday Reading (2011).
Art and Craft
Bright Flowers: Textiles and Ceramics of Central Asia by Christina Sumner and Guy Petherbridge ISBN: 1863171061
Beyond the Silk Road: Arts of Central Asia by Christina Sumner with Heleanor Feltham ISBN-13: 978-1863170697
Traditional Textiles of Central Asia by Janet Harvey ISBN-13: 978-0500278758
Ikat: Splendid Silks of Central Asia by Kate Fitz Gibbon and Andrew Hale ISBN-13: 978-1856691512
Russian Textiles: Printed Cloth for the Bazaars of Central Asia by Susan Meller ISBN-13 978-0810993815
Uzbekistan: Heirs to the Silk Road by Johannes Kalter and Margareta Pavaloi ISBN-13: 978-0500974513
Kyrgyzstan: Costumes of Nomadic People by Klavdiya Antipina, Rolando Paiva and Temirbek Musakeev ISBN-13 978-88-8491-970-0
Architectural Textiles: Tent Bands of Central Asia by Richard Isaacson ISBN-13: 978-0874050325
Usbekistan, 1925-1940: Dokumentarfotogrfie 1925 - 1945 von Max Penson by Erika Billeter ISBN-13: 978-3716509975
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History
The Great Game: the Struggle for Empire in Central Asia by Peter Hopkirk ISBN-13: 978-1568360225
The Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia by Karl E Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac ISBN-13: 978-1582430287
The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization by Jonathan Lyons ISBN-13: 9781596914599
Travels into Bokhara by Alexander Burnes ISBN-13: 978-1906011710
To The Tashkent Station by Rebecca Manley ISBN-13: 978-0801447396
The Golden Ring of Khorezm V.N Yagodin and A.V.G. Betts, UNESCO publication available for free download. It includes excellent information on the desert fortresses in Russian and English.
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Travel Writing
Uzbekistan, the Golden Road to Samarkand by Calum Macelod & Bradley Mayhem ISBN-13: 978-9622178373
A Carpet Ride to Khiva by Christopher Aslan Alexander ISBN-13 978-1848311251
Friendly Stepppes: A Silk Road Journey by Nick Rowan ISBN-13: 978-0955754944
Central Asia: A Traveller's Companion by Kathleen Hopkirk ISBN:0-7195-5016-5
Revolution Baby: Motherhood and Anarchy in Kyrgyzstan by Saffia Farr ISBN:1-897312-50-4
Kyrgyzstan by Laurence Mitchell ISBN:9781841628561, Bradt Travel Guides
Novels
Samarkand by Amin Maalouf ISBN-13: 978-1566562935
Ali and Nino by Kurbin Said ISBN-13: 978-0385720403
Jamilia by Chingiz Aitmatov ISBN-13: 978-1-84659-032-0
The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years by Chingiz Aitmatov ISBN 13: 978-0253204820
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