Reclaiming Turkmenistan from the margins of global attention, Hein offers a lively history of the 'Mother of the World' and its people.

These days, it's rare for news items to come out of Turkmenistan. It can be easy for us to assume that the country was always isolated, quirky or even irrelevant. But its real history paints a wildly different picture.

Turkmenistan's desert-dominated landscape has been an unheralded flashpoint at many key moments in history, whether as an integral but misunderstood part of the Soviet Empire, or as a major strategic prize in the brutal invasions of Genghis Khan. Set exactly where East met West, yet often aloof from both, Turkmenistan was a key crossroads on the Silk Road, and once hosted the largest city on Earth, which doubled up as one of the world's great seats of learning. It lays claim to conjuring up the world's first monotheistic religion, and it may well have been one of the major players in that elusive turning point of history, the birth of civilisation?up there with Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus Valley.

No other nation can claim all of this, yet Turkmenistan's past has long remained hidden from our understanding. This is the extraordinary story of a starkly beautiful land, its unique culture, and the wonderful people who now call it home.