In Asia Times, Colin Mackerras reviews a new book, Xinjiang, China’s Muslim Borderland – Studies of Central Asia and the Caucasus, a collection of essays edited by S Frederick Starr: “Xinjiang, China’s Muslim Borderland is not the first book to focus on Xinjiang… However, it is the first to take an all-round view on Xinjiang and Xinjiang alone. There are sections on an astonishingly wide variety of topics, including history, the economy, politics, Islam, education, demography, health care and water management. And given that Xinjiang is rightly called a ‘borderland’, it comes as no surprise to find quite a bit of analysis of foreign affairs and how Xinjiang affects the interrelationships of its region, especially through the way it spans China and Central Asia. ” The full review is here.
Foreign Affairs also reviews this book along with two others, Xinjiang — China’s Muslim Far Northwest by Michael Dillon and Wild West China: The Taming of Xinjiang by Christian Tyler.