HUSSEIN AHMADI. TALYSHS. FROM THE SAFAVID ERA TO THE END OF THE SECOND RUSSIAN-IRANIAN WAR OF 1826-1828, translated from Persian by F. K. Jafarov; Foreword by A. A. Mammadov, Moscow: LIBROCOM Book House, 2009, 176 p. (Talysh studies) The reviewed book by Iranian historian Huseyn Ahmadi is published in the series "Talysh Studies", which is produced by the Regional Talysh National Cultural Autonomy of Moscow, other Talysh organizations in Russia and the International Foundation for the Revival of Talysh Culture. The author presents an overview of the history of the independent Talysh Khanate of the XVIII-XIX centuries, based on the research of Iranian scholars, and sometimes draws on the works of Western authors translated into Persian. At the same time, some significant events and facts of the history of Talysh at the beginning of the XIX century are either omitted altogether, or presented with very noticeable gaps, although there are quite enough documents and studies on this topic in Russian, English, Armenian and Georgian. Directly from the text of the monograph, one can see the desire to portray the Talyshs as consistent and most stubborn fighters against Russia and its intentions to annex Talysh. Is this true if the Talysh rulers spent more than 30 years trying to incorporate their khanate into the Russian Empire, hoping to escape the military and political anarchy that reigned in Iran in the 1750s and 1790s? during the Zend-Qajar feud? We will try to understand these issues based on the documents and research available to us. In the introduction, H. Ahmadi explains the difference between the terms " golish "and" talysh", which denote the mountainous and lowland population of the region. However, the etymology of these terms remains unclear. A number of orientalists associate the ethnonym "talysh" with the ancient form "Kadusia", in the Armenian historical literature - "kadish", later - "talysh" [Asatrian and Borjian, 2006, p. 43-72], and the term "Talysh" is al ... Read more