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In a recent article in Ulitsa, Moscow journalist Denis Dragunsky asked whether Russia was an Asian or a European country. Much the same question could be asked about Kazakstan (the land of the Kazaks), particularly given its long historical ties with Russia. And it is not an easy question to answer. While Kazakstan's history is a blend of Mongol, Turkic, Islamic, and Russian heritages, there are Cossacks and Russians both in and outside of Kazakstan who feel that parts of Kazakstan belong historically to Russia. While such claims have been long and vocal, the Kazak response has been forcibly silent during most of this century. However, with the emergence of Kazakstan as not only an independent country, but a potentially powerful regional player, Kazaks have begun to reclaim their history from the Russians. And with questions about how to construct a nation come queries about ethnicity and history. What is a Kazak? Given that the Russians referred to them as the Kirgiz during most of the period that they dominated the Kazaks, and thus robbed the Kazaks of their most basic linguistic identification term, there is much to be explored and reclaimed before this people and nation can truly define itself in the context of its rich history.

Crowe reviews 'The Holocaust in Latvia, 1941-1944' by Andrew Ezergailis, 'Nazi Germany and the Jews, Vol. I: The Years of Persecution, 1933-1944' by Saul Friedlander, 'From Indifference to Activism: Swedish Diplomacy and the Holocaust, 1938-1944' by Paul A. Levine and 'Spielberg's Holocaust: Critical Perspectives on 'Schindler's List" edited by Yosefa Loshitzky.

The development of a Kazak ethnic identity & state in contemporary Kazakstan is examined. Bakhytnur Otarbaeva's separation of Kazak ethnogenesis into three distinct historical periods & the formation of Kazak identity around three separate genealogies are discussed. Although Russian culture has influenced 20th-century Kazak identity, it is asserted that the Mongols remain the predominant sociocultural influence. The historical significance of Kazakstan's ancient relationships to Islamic & Arabic peoples is considered. Russia's increased occupation of Kazakstan throughout the 18th, 19th, & early 20th centuries illustrates Russia's expansionist objectives. The deleterious effects of the Russian civil war & Joseph Stalin's policy of agricultural collectivization on the Kazak peoples are studied; it is noted that Soviet Russia contributed few positive social programs to Kazakstan during the early 20th century. The further devastation of Kazakstan under Nikita Khrushchev's "Virgin & Idle Lands" program, conflicts between Kazak & Soviet leadership over Kazakstan's place in the USSR, & Kazakstan's realization of independence after the Gorbachev Administration's downfall are addressed. The section concludes by comparing the possibility of ethnic-based violence in Kazakstan with the situation of the former Yugoslavia. J. W. Parker