It's horribly fitting that Grozny, the Chechnyan capital, should mean 'terrible'. Chechnya's recent history is dominated by the two devastating wars of 1994 and 1999 but, as Wood argues, its identity has been one of struggle and persecution since the 16th century. Even so, it was only under the Soviet regime that the nationalist movement really took shape, accelerated by the mass deportations in the 1940s. Wood maps out the bloody relationship between Chechnya and Russia to argue that the failure of recent Chechnyan leaders to establish stability is no argument against independence - and that the recent instalment of a puppet regime is made all the worse by the West's willing acceptance of any political policy conducted in the name of the war on terror. It would be a shame if the density of this book put off the casual reader - as Wood makes clear, part of the tragedy is that Chechnya's people are screaming into silence.

Claire Allfree