Georgia is a country in the southern Caucasus mountains where Europe meets Asia, with a Black Sea coast, ancient vineyards and its own language and alphabet. Yet this legendary home of Medea and the Golden Fleece is also the little-known site of Europe’s first nationwide experiment in democratic socialism: the Republic of Georgia of 1918-21 This was a brief moment of independence from Tsarist Russia and it coincided with a starburst of literary and artistic modernism.