Saigon!
I actually started to read your Montefiore "Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar".
Part 1. Chapter 1. Line 11:
"Westerners often do not realize how foreign
Georgia was: an
independent kingdom for millennia with
its own ancient language, traditions, cuisine, literature, it was only
consumed by Russia in gulps between 1801 and 1878."
That's it! Enough! "Historian" my arse!
1. There was never a kingdom named "Georgia"!
Between 12 and 8 centuries BC on the territory of modern day Georgia existed two states: Diaoha and Kolha, as well as an array of smaller less stable states.
6 century BC -- Kolha kingdom in the Western territory of modern day Georgia.
In what is now Easter region of Georgia there was Iberia kingdom (4 - 3 BC).
Also, there existed Kartlian kingdom (3 - 2 BC).
4 -6 AD -- Lazlar kingdom.
736 -- 1122 -- ISLAMIC state -- Tiflis emirate.
Around this time there was also a state Ereti.
9 -- 10 AD -- Tao-Klarjeti, Abkhasian kingdom, Kartlian kingdom, Kaheti and Ereti.
(So, which one of these kingdoms was "Georgia" in Montefiore's understanding?

)
10 -- 11 AD Tao-Klarjeti takes over the rest of the kingdoms and forms a kingdom SAKARTVELO.
13 AD Abkhasia becomes independent and Samtshe and Djavahetia leave what once was Sakartvelo.
15 AD on a territory of modern day Georgia existed few independent states with their own languages, traditions and culture: Kartli, Kaheti, Imereti, Samtshe-Djavaheti.
What sort of "historian" doesn't know these simple facts????!!!!!!!!!
2. "independent kingdom for
millennia"? It looks like Montefiore is also an outstanding mathematician!
3. "Georgian" is an ANCIENT LANGUAGE?!
"Georgian" language was a language of predominantly Iberian kingdom, Kartli and Kolhi. It is a mixture of few languages and it is not a native language to many "Georgian" ethnicities of modern day Georgia!
What stopped your "historian" from figuring that out?!
4. "consumed by Russia"?
Let's have a look, shall we?
For simplicity sake let's refer to all nations of what is now Georgia, as Georgians; and to various kingdoms there -- as Georgian kingdoms.
By the 16 - 17 century Georgian nations stood on a brink of physical extinction thanks Turks, Persians and assorted Caucasian nations.
In 1782
Georgian (Kartlo-Kahetian, since Georgia at the time consisted of few kingdoms)
king asked Russia for protection (Georgievsky pact).
In 1795 Persian Shah Aga Khan Mohammed, dissatisfied that Irakly II failed to appear at his coronation and so expressed its independence, summed troops to Tbilisi. They rounded up civilians (80 000) and slaughtered them. In Tbilisi an image of Virgin Mary was brought to the bridge over the Kourou, where more than three thousand men were gathered and told to undress. Shah then ordered everyone to come to St. Mary and desecrate her image. Those who refused were beheaded and thrown into the river. Georgians who tried to flee Georgia were caught and massacred. Many Georgians loyal to Shah took part in the massacres.
Georgian king Irakley wrote letters to Catherine II begging her to save Georgia.
Three detachments of Russian troops of militia generals Burnashev, Gudovich, Suhotnev located in the Caucasus, and an Ossetian detachment of 500 soldiers came to the aid of Georgia. In Petersburg, it was decided to urgently equip an army of ten thousands send it to Tiflis. Mohammed Aga Khan retreated...
In 1797 Mohammed Aga Khan once again went on Tiflisu. Only his death saved the city.
In 1801 Russia fulfilled the request of Georgian king George XII and took Georgia into Russian Empire.
How come your "historian" did not know about REPEATED REQUESTS of Georgian kings to be "consumed" by Russian Empire?!
Conclusion:
If in the first 13 lines Montefiore managed to make 4 crude mistakes, I am not going to even entertain the thought of reading the rest of his crap!
In 13 lines -- 4 glaring mistakes!!!!!!! And you call him "historian"?!
Go away...