{"podcast":{"title":"New Books in Central Asian Studies","slug":"new-books-in-central-asian-studies-320391","podcast_index_feed_id":320391,"rss_url":"https://feeds.simplecast.com/VjNbNYWR","website_url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/peoples-places/central-asian-studies/","image_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/cfa596c9-7ed7-4f69-ae77-ff3bec08a375/1d1a310b-0f41-40b7-92ce-6b7880191d7a/3000x3000/cf6e365e1e0337a47082be84bf790199.png?aid=rss_feed","author":"New Books Network","episode_count":200,"summary":"This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to get informative, engaging content straight to your inbox: ⁠https://newbooksnetwork.substack.com/⁠ Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky to learn about more our latest interviews: @newbooksnetwork Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/central-asian-studies","last_synced_at":"2026-09-27T02:20:00.301922+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-central-asian-studies-320391"},"episode":{"title":"Olivier Hein, \"Mother of the World: The Remarkable History of Turkmenistan\" (Hurst, 2026)","slug":"olivier-hein-mother-of-the-world-the-remarkable-history-of-turkmenistan-hurst-2026","published_at":"2026-07-02T08:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-central-asian-studies-320391/olivier-hein-mother-of-the-world-the-remarkable-history-of-turkmenistan-hurst-2026","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-central-asian-studies-320391","url":"https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/peoples-places/central-asian-studies/","audio_url":"https://injector.simplecastaudio.com/cfa596c9-7ed7-4f69-ae77-ff3bec08a375/episodes/0b33d9fa-5b68-4156-a6fd-6cff7b4af819/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=cfa596c9-7ed7-4f69-ae77-ff3bec08a375&awEpisodeId=0b33d9fa-5b68-4156-a6fd-6cff7b4af819&feed=VjNbNYWR","summary":"Turkmenistan rarely makes international headlines–and when it did, it was often stories that highlighted things like the strange cult of personality that surrounded Saparmurat Niyazov, its first post-Soviet president, who named months after himself and made his memoir required reading. Olivier Hein joins us on the show today to talk about Turkmenistan’s long history: as a possible origin for Zoroastrianism, the first monotheistic faith; the rise of Merv, at one point possibly one of the world’s largest cities; the emergence of the Turkmen; and how this region ended up becoming the crossroads of empires. Olivier’s work is now a book Mother of the World: The Remarkable History of Turkmenistan (Hurst, 2026) Olivier Hein is a Mauritian-British author whose books include Star and Key: The Historical Adventure of Mauritius and Borneo: The History of an Enigma. Formerly a UN, UK and OSCE diplomat, posted to New York, Paris, Kosovo and Turkmenistan, he also contributes to The Chap magazine. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/central-asian-studies","meta_description":"Turkmenistan rarely makes international headlines–and when it did, it was often stories that highlighted things like the strange cult of personality that…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3120,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/new-books-in-central-asian-studies-320391/episodes/olivier-hein-mother-of-the-world-the-remarkable-history-of-turkmenistan-hurst-2026/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/new-books-in-central-asian-studies-320391/olivier-hein-mother-of-the-world-the-remarkable-history-of-turkmenistan-hurst-2026.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}