Wojciech Jagielski has already achieved recognition for his reporting from the most inflamed points on our globe. His latest work] will only confirm his reputation.-Ryszard KapuscinskiIn Towers of Stone, award-winning Polish reporter Wojciech Jagielski brings into focus the tragedy of Chechnya, its inhabitants, and the war being waged there by a handful of desperate warriors against a powerful and much more numerous army. Jagielski's narrative is told through the lens of two men: Shamil Basaev, a hero to some, a dangerous warlord to others; and Aslan Maskhadov, a calculating and sober politician, who is viewed as a providential savior by some of his compatriots and a cowardly opportunist by the rest. Caught up in a war to which they owe everything and without which they could not live, the two fighters face enemy forces-and one another-in protean conflicts that prove hard to quell. Viewing their personal story as a microcosm of the conflict threatening to devour a land and its peoples, Jagielski distills the bitter history of the region with forceful clarity.Wojciech Jagielski is a journalist at Gazeta Wyborcza, a BBC correspondent, and an occasional contributor to Le Monde. He specializes in Africa, Central Asia, the Trans-Caucasus, and the Caucasus. He has been witness to the most important political events of the end of the twentieth century and is a permanent observer of developments in Afghanistan. He is the recipient of the Dariusz Fikus Award, one of Poland's most prestigious awards for excellence in journalism.