Former Wall Street Journal correspondent Hugh Pope talked about his book Sons of the Conquerors: The Rise of the Turkic World, published by Overlook Duckworth. In his book he discusses the recent social, political, and economic successes of the five Turkic states of the Caucasus and Central Asia set free by the end of the Cold War -- Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic. Mr. Pope examines the rise and fall of Turkic states and describes how they are linked by linguistics, population, economics and ethnicity. His talk was titled, “Journeys through the World: New Connections along the Old Silk Road.” He showed photographs from the book throughout his talk, using them to illustrate old and new links between the countries of the Turkish family of languages. He talked about the history of the region for the last 1,000 years, as well as recent wars and militarism. After his presentation he responded to audience members' questions.

Mr. Pope’s visit was sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia (CREECA); the Madison Association of Turkish Students; the Central Asia Student Association; the Middle East Studies program; the Center for Turkish Studies; and the Associated Students of Madison.