Today, the Kyrgyz Manas is one of the most celebrated epic heroic poems in the world. At the turn of the new millennium it was appointed a UNESCO 'Masterpiece in the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Mankind', signalling its global significance. It sits alongside Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, or the South Asian Mahābhārata and Rāmāyana, although politics and language have during the twentieth century conspired against allowing it to become as well known. In contrast to previously published material, this book focuses on one septegenarian...