The Uyghurs of China are an Islamic minority driven,they would say,to acts of terrorism to free themselves from the yoke of the one party state. Three years after the publication of Nick Holdstock's excellent book they've finally made international news with accusations of mass incarcerations by China in concentration camps reaching the West. Holdstock tells us the history of a region and a people that after facing repression after accusations of terrorism have somewhat ironically turned to that to protect themselves and how a "local problem" has turned into something that has severely rattled the State of China.
Holdstock is a reliable narrator,he lets his subjects speak for themselves and leaves his readers to make up their own minds,an excellent read on a subject most in the West are unaware of that Chinese would happily keep that

I admittedly knew nothing about Xianjing before picking this up but now I feel like I understand it. Holdstock holds the reader's hand a bit, explaining the history of the Uyghur people and the various movements like East Turkemistan until modern day China with a good exploration of the various, complicated factors that underpin a large government like China. Holdstock is careful not place the blame on religion, culture, or even the media but rather puts a little blame on all of those and mostly on the Chinese government. It makes for a calm book especially compared to the hysterical tone other sources talking about Uyghurs often has.