The Chechens: A Handbook by Amjad Jaimoukha has been published by Routledge simultaneously in both London and New York. The book is hard-covered, 336 pages, with a number of maps and many colour photographs. The only comprehensive treatment of this subject available in English, this book provides a ready introduction and practical guide to the Chechen people, and to some little-known and rarely considered aspects of Chechen culture, including customs and traditions, folklore, arts and architecture, music and literature. This book is an indispensable and accessible resource for all those with an interest in Chechnya.

The ancient Chechen nation has been living in its idyllic homeland in the North Caucasus for thousands of years, building states and forging relations and interacting with other Caucasian and Near Eastern civilizations. The Chechens are thought to be related to the Hurrians and Urartians, builders of seminal civilizations in the Near East (3rd millennium BC to middle of 1st millennium BC), and they themselves established a number of civilizations.

The first edition of the book, which was published in early 2005 in both book-form and e- form, received a number of good reviews and was used in a number of documentaries in the West on the Chechens and their culture. It was acquired by more than 200 universities and political research institutions in the USA, and many more across Western Europe and Japan, making it the definitive academic reference work on the Chechens and Chechnya.