The Caucasus is a land whose jagged terrain points starkly to the region's rich but bloody past - and to a present that is no less troubled. Nicholas Griffin combines narrative history with travelogue as he explores the Caucasus in search of the legacy of Imam Shamil, 19th-century freedom fighter and guru of today's Chechen resistance. This book lifts the lid on a little known but crucially important area of the world whose future today, as ever, hangs in balance.