The Wind of the Khazars

Book excerpt: At a time when Charlemagne ruled, the Byzantines were encroaching upon Russia, and the faith of Allah was flourishing in Baghdad, there existed a kingdom with a tolerant, advanced civilization: somewhere between the Caucasus mountains and the Volga, the Khazar kingdom grew and flourished, and in one of the oddest choices ever made, converted itself to Judaism. A thousand years later, when the writer Marc Sofer is given an ancient Khazarian coin by a mysterious visitor, he is drawn into investigating the fascinating enigma of the Khazars. Why did these Steppe warriors decide to become Jews? Why, after centuries of power and prosperity, were they effaced from history? What is the connection between this ancient, vanished people, and the terrorist group calling themselves the New Khazars, who have begun attacking oil plants on the Caspian sea? Taking place both in the 10th century and the 21st, this absorbing, dramatic tale is part historical novel, part thriller. The story of the Khazars is interwoven with a contemporary political conspiracy in an unusual blend of reality and fiction that explores the ever important themes of history and identity.