Dark Shadows is a compelling portrait of Kazakhstan, a country that is little known in the West. Strategically located in the heart of Central Asia, sandwiched between Vladimir Putin's Russia, its former colonial ruler, and Xi Jinping's China, this vast oil-rich state is carving out its place in the world as it contends with its own complex past and present. Journalist Joanna Lillis paints a vibrant picture of this emerging nation through vivid reportage based on 13 years of on-the-ground coverage, and travels across the length and breadth of this enigmatic country that lies along the ancient Silk Road and at the geopolitical and cultural crossroads where East meets West.Featuring tales of murder and abduction, intrigue and betrayal, extortion and corruption, this book explores how a president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, transformed himself into a potentate and the economically-struggling state he inherited at the fall of the USSR into a swaggering 21st-century monocracy. A colourful cast of characters brings the politics to life: from strutting oligarch to sleeping villagers, from principled politicians to striking oilmen, from crusading journalists to courageous campaigners.Traversing dust-blown deserts and majestic mountains, taking in glitzy cities and dystopian landscapes, Dark Shadows conjures up Kazakhstan as a living, breathing place, full of extraordinary people living extraordinary lives.

PART 1 - THE MAKING OF A POTENTATE 1. Arise, Kazakhstan2. A Family Affair3. Don't Mess with the Boss4. Fault-Lines in the Feel-Good Factor5. Publish and Be Damned6. Bread and Circuses7. Back to the USSR8. Stop the PressesPART 2 - IDENTITY CRISIS9. Kingdom of the Kazakhs10. Mother Russia11. Death to the Past12. The Gulag Archipelago13. Exile of the Innocents14. Sparks of Tension15. December of Discontent16. Lure of the Land17. Homeward BoundPART 3 - STORIES FROM THE STEPPE18. Keeping the Faith19. Opium of the People20. Culture Wars21. The Curse of Corruption22. The Shrinking Sea23. The Wasteland24. The Ranch25. The Slumbering Steppe26. The Collective FarmBibliography