Praise for THE OATH
|
"Spectacular...Khassan
Baiev's autobiographical tale of his work as a field surgeon in both
Chechen wars, provides not only a detailed account of the effects of
modern warfare on its victims, but also a story of a Caucasian
coming-of-age in the old USSR, where Baiev studied medicine in Siberia.
His story is particularly valuable for the way it traces the evolution
of his own perceptions of the fight against the
Russians."
—Christian Cary, New York Review of Books
"The human element is foremost in Khassan Baiev's The Oath: A Surgeon Under Fire. This
powerful book offers a case study of the Kremlin's past and present
efforts to crush the most stubborn of all nations in the Soviet Union
and the Russian Federation, the Chechens. Baiev's work is a truly epic
tale of his efforts to run a hospital in a Chechen village during the
two Russo-Chechen wars that have dragged on throughout the last decade
but for a respite between 1996 and 1999. By telling the background story
of his upbringing as a distrusted Chechen in the USSR and his subsequent
efforts to run a village hospital during the Chechen conflicts, Baiev
brings his people's story to life."
—Transitions Online
"Revealing and
fascinating...Exceptional...The description of Baiev's departure to New
York from the Moscow airport, where he was stoppd, interrogated, and
eventually allowed to board the plane as the doors were being closed, is
so suspenseful...Baiev's description of the nature of medical and
surgical practices in the United States as compared with what he
experienced back home is itself a reason to read the book...This is an
important testimony that belongs in the annals of the history of
medicine."
—Mark Field, Ph.D, New England Journal of Medicine
"Baiev's account of the first two years of the second Chechen
conflict...makes for some of the most extraordinary passages about war
ever written.—Thomas de Waal, TheMoscowTimes.com
"'The Oath: A Surgeon Under Fire' is as much a memoir as it is a painful
attempt to try to keep the memory of the human rights violations in
Chechnya from being buried under shifts in geopolitical realities...The
book provides a quick primer in the history of Russian-Chechen tensions
dating back to the times of Ivan the Terrible and Peter the
Great."
—Sandip Roy, San Francisco Chronicle
"Baiev's narrative lends itself to multiple readings. We find here, set
forth with an uncommon sense of immediacy, what it is like to grow up
and live in Central Asia, in an Islamic community proud of its past and
zealous of its traditions. Baiev renders folklore and ethnic identity
with forceful brush strokes and vivid colors. He lovingly depicts
Islamic religious ritual, including a personal pilgrimage to Mecca that
most non-Islamic Westerners will find interesting. He portrays the full,
agreeable existence of a proud people, thoroughly suffused by tight
family allegiances and human warmth. Then he shows their lives shattered
by war. And there emerges the image of a hardy race, inured to the pangs
and weariness of protracted armed conflict (these, after all, are the
same people who have been skirmishing with the Russians since the last
century, as readers of Tolstoy's novels know well) and to the
unremitting tension of a bloody struggle against
oppression."
—F. Gonzalez-Crussi, The Washington Post
"Baiev's vivid, disturbing account unfolds in the mind's eye like a
movie. His extraordinary empathy for both sides is inspiring. But his
book is also dispiriting, not just because of war's inhumanity, but
because the heroism he displayed is so hard to come by, and comes at
such a cost. In his homeland, the Chechen war rumbles on with no end in
sight."
—William Taubman, The Boston Globe
"Baiev's first-hand account provides a bracing reality check on the
ongoing Chechen conflict and what it means to the people who live
there."
—Eric Engleman, Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma
"Occasionally a book speaks so directly to our times that it transcends
the limitations of the written word. Such a book is The Oath, a memoir
by Chechen doctor Khassan Baiev. A riveting testimony about the savagery
of war and how ordinary people do and do not survive it, this book ought
to be required reading for all government officials and the citizens who
elect them . . .In spite of its tragic subject matter, The Oath also
offers a glimmer of hope and leaves the reader with a sense of awe at
the courage and selflessness of ordinary people under extraordinary
circumstances."
—Pat MacEnulty, South Florida
Sun-Sentinel
“A truly moving, compelling, and dramatic account of raw courage
and extraordinary human suffering, inflicted on the Chechen people by a
ruthless invasion relentlessly pursued by the Kremlin and studiously
ignored by the West.”
—Zbigniew Brzezinski, former
National Security Advisor
"A real-life Hawkeye Pierce . .
. [Khassan Baiev] has humanized the Chechens, whom others have portrayed
as terrorists. Russian president Vladimir Putin has tried to equate
Russia's fight against the Chechens with the U.S. battle against
al-Qaida. Those who read this stirring memoir will be hard-pressed to
see the situation so simply." — Publishers Weekly,
starred review
"[The Oath] gives
American readers an important perspective to consider as our
government's quest for support in the war on terror constrains it from
condemning atrocities committed by allies . . . As in The Pianist, one
marvels at how a man can continually escape seemingly certain death and
persevere under the most perverse conditions . .. Humanity behind the
headlines--an eye-opener."—Booklist, starred
review
"A compelling portrait of the Chechen people
and the effects of war on innocent victims, demonstrating the depths to
which human beings can sink and the heights to which they can
rise.—Kirkus Reviews
“I read Dr.
Baiev’s book with great concern and interest. His struggle to keep
the Hippocratic oath at all times is both intensely moving and
inspiring. What a crime that men and women of his caliber are forced to
seek exile in order to stay alive.”
—Vanessa Redgrave
“The Oath is not only the story of a courageous Chechen
doctor, which in and of itself is fabulous reading; it is also the story
of a bloody civil war in the heart of Russia, often ignored, but at our
peril, in the context of the post-9/11 war against terrorism. This is
must, informative reading.”
—Marvin Kalb, award-winning
journalist for CBS and NBC News
“The Oath is a vivid,
compelling act of witness. There have been independent Russian
journalists willing to speak the truth about the Kremlin’s war in
Chechnya. But now we have a courageous and authentic Chechen whose
searing experiences as a doctor treating the wounded from both sides
will leave the reader outraged and inspired.”
—Joshua
Rubenstein, Northeast Regional Director, Amnesty International
“The Oath is an example of courage and compassion at the service
of suffering humanity. It should serve as an inspiration for all those
who want to bring a loving hand to the victims of our world's
cruelties.”
—Dominique Lapierre, author of City of
Joy, and co-author of Freedom at Midnight and Oh
Jerusalem!
“This book is an extraordinary and
deeply affecting personal story of a doctor’s commitment to serve
both his people and the values of medicine in the face of harrowing
circumstances -- where military forces showed not the slightest respect
for civilians and where Dr. Baiev had to provide medical care under
conditions that resemble those of the American Civil War. But its
significance is deeply political as well, raising the uncomfortable
question how those in Europe and the United States can ignore the
carnage, the suffering and the lies that allow this brutal campaign to
continue. I wish all our leaders would read this book.”
—Leonard S. Rubenstein, Executive Director, Physicians for Human
Rights
“Powerful, deeply moving, and revealing, not only
of the Chechnya war’s depth of corruption and brutality, but the
still remaining deep humanity of Dr. Baiev and his medical team. A
stirring and provocative read.”
—Jerrold L. Schecter,
author of Sacred Secrets: How Soviet Intelligence Operations Changed
American History
| 
Walker & Company
www.the oathbook.com
• www.walkerbooks.com
104 Fifth Avenue
New
York, NY 10011
contact: pmiller@walkerbooks.com
|
|
