The Making of Modern Georgia, 1918-2012: The First Georgian Republic and its Successors

Barely two chapters in and can already tell I'll be coming back to it again and again as a reference.

This is a collection of essays that were mostly presented at a conference in the US in 2012, now compiled and published together. Most of the leading scholars on Georgia are here, as are several government officials (though it should be noted most are from the Saakashvili administration).Overall its an interesting read, though I found it didn't quite go for what the title implies, which is a look at the 1918-21 republic and developments in Georgia since then to create the modern state. The first half of the book almost entirely focuses on developments in recent years, with only a few references to the first republic. The second half does go more into the history, though that is more about relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia than anything.It would have been nice to get more details on the first Georgian republic, especially as several essays note that little is written about it (especially in English), and many of the issues it faced (threat of Russian invasion, separatism) are still prevalent today. But overall for anyone wanting a serious look at modern Georgian history, this is a key book to read.