Hidden behind the Himalayas and ruled over by a God-king, Tibet has always cast a powerful spell over travellers from the West. In this remarkable, and ultimately tragic narrative, Peter Hopkirk recounts the forcible opening up of this medieval land during the nineteenthand twentieth centuries, and the extraordinary race between agents, soldiers, missionaries, mountaineers, explorers, and mystics from nine different countries to reach Lhasa, Tibet's sacred capital. His story concludes with the ultimate act of trespass - the Chinese invasion of 1950.

Trespassers on the Roof of the World : The Race for Lhasa

History

HOPKIRK, Peter

Asia

Oxford Univ. Pr.

The Silk Road, which linked imperial Rome and distant China, was once the greatest thoroughfare on earth. Along it traveled precious cargoes of silk, gold and ivory, as well as revolutionary new ideas. Its oasis towns blossomed into thriving centers of Buddhist art and learning. In time it began to decline. The traffic slowed, the merchants left and finally its towns vanished beneath the desert sands to be forgotten for a thousand years; however, legends grew up of lost cities filled with treasures and guarded by demons. In the early years of the last century foreign explorers began to investigate these legends, and very soon an international race began for the art treasures of the Silk Road. Huge wall paintings, sculptures and priceless manuscripts were carried away, literally by the ton, and are today scattered through the museums of a dozen countries. Peter Hopkirk tells the story of the intrepid men who, at great personal risk, led these long-range archaeological raids, incurring the undying wrath of the Chinese.

Foreign Devils on the Silk Road : The Search for the Lost Treasures of Central Asia

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

Oxford University Press

Peter Hopkirk's book tells for the first time the story of the Bolshevik attempt between the wars to set the East ablaze with the new gospel of Marxism. Lenin's dream was to liberate the whole of Asia, but his starting point was British India. A shadowy, undeclared war followed. Among the players in this new Great Game were British Indian intelligence officers and the professional revolutionaries of the Communist International. There were also Muslim visionaries and Chinese warlords - as well as a White Russian baron who roasted his Bolshevik captives alive. Here is an extraordinary tale of intrigue and treachery, barbarism and civil war, whose echoes continue to be heard in Central Asia today.

Setting the East Ablaze : On Secret Service in Bolshevik Asia

Under the banner of a Holy War, masterminded in Berlin and unleashed from Constantinople, the Germans and the Turks set out in 1914 to foment violent revolutionary uprisings against the British in India and the Russians in Central Asia. It was a new and more sinister version of the old Great Game, with world domination as its ultimate aim. German hawks dreamed of driving the British out of India and creating a vast new Teutonic empire in the East, using their Turkish ally as a springboard. At the same time Turkey's leaders aimed to free the Muslim peoples of Central Asia from the Tsarist yoke - and rule them themselves as part of a new Ottoman empire. The shadowy and often bloody struggle which followed was fought out between the intelligence services of King, Kaiser, Sultan and Tsar. It was to spill over into Persia, Afghanistan, the Caucasus and Central Asia, and be felt as far afield as the United States and China. It was around this colossal conspiracy that John Buchan wove his immortal spy story Greenmantle. Here, told in epic detail and for the first time, is the extraordinary story of the Turco-German jihad of the First World War, recounted through the adventures and misadventures of the secret agents and others who took part in it. Pieced together from the secret intelligence reports of the day and the long-forgotten memoirs of the participants, Peter Hopkirk's latest narrative is an enthralling sequel to his best-selling The Great Game, and his three earlier works set in Central Asia. It is also highly topical in view of recent events in this volatile region where the Great Game has never really ceased. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism and fears of a resurgent Russia and Germany add greatly to its significance.

On Secret Service East of Constantinople : The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire

Military

This book is for all those who love Kim, that masterpiece of Indian life in which Kipling immortalized the Great Game. Fascinated since childhood by this strange tale of an orphan boy's recruitment into the Indian secret service, Peter Hopkirk here retraces Kim's footsteps across Kipling's India to see how much of it remains. To attempt this with a fictional hero would normally be pointless; but Kim is different. For much of this Great Game classic was inspired by actual people and places, thus blurring the line between the real and the imaginary. Less a travel book than a literary detective story, this is the intriguing story of Peter Hopkirk's quest for Kim.

Quest for 'Kim : In Search of Kipling's Great Game

Literature & Fiction

The Silk Road, the great trans-Asian highway linking Imperial Rome to China, reached the height of its importance during the T'ang Dynasty. Along it travelled precious cargoes as well as new ideas, art and knowledge. Its oasis towns blossomed into thriving centres of trade. However, as the Chinese lost control of the region, it began to decline to the point where the towns disappeared beneath desert sands. Local legends grew of buried treasure guarded by demons. This is the story of the intrepid adventurers who, at great personal risk, led long-range archaeological raids to the region in the early years of the 20th century. Profiles of such archaeologists as Sir Aurel Stein, who carried off large quantities of priceless wall paintings, sculptures, silks and early manuscripts, augment a narrative which also traces the fate of the works of art that were removed.

Foreign devils on the Silk Road: The search for the lost cities and treasures of Chinese Central Asia (Oxford University Press paperback)

The "Great Game" was an imperial, political, diplomatic, and military enterprise in which intrepid individuals played for high stakes in a struggle that stretched from the Causasus in the West to Chinese Turkestan and Tibet in the East. The prize was British India. When play first began, the frontiers of Russia and India lay some 2000 miles apart; by the end, the gap had reduced in some places to just 20 miles. Officers on either side, disguised as holy men and horse traders, or advancing in full uniform, delighted in the play as they sought to learn enemy positions, befriend powerful khans, or discover vital secrets. This book should appeal to those interested in espionage and diplomacy, the history of "High Asia" in Victorian period and superpower relations.

The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia

Politics & Social Sciences

Politics & Government

This book is for all those who love Kim , that masterpiece of Indian life in which Kipling immortalized the Great Game. Fascinated since childhood by this strange tale of an orphan boy's recruitment into the Indian secret service, Peter Hopkirk here explores the many mysteries surrounding Kipling's great novel. He shows that most of the characters - Kim himself, the old Tibetan lama, Colonel Creighton, Mahbub Ali, Lurgan Sahib and the Babu (agent R17) - were inspired, in whole or in part, by actual individuals. Likewise, its locations are real - all of them familiar to the young Kipling when, more than a century ago, he worked as a reporter on a Lahore newspaper. Although Hopkirk trailed Kim and the lama across India and Pakistan, this is less a travel book than a literary detective story. It is not even essential to have read Kim in order to enjoy it, for Kipling's narrative is carefully sketched in as Hopkirk's quest unfolds. Because its hero is a teenage boy, many people mistakenly believe Kim to be a children's book. This book is intended for wide popular appeal as an adventure and espionage story; lovers of travel writing, of Hopkirk's writing, and of Kipling's writing; those interested in Indian history and the history of the Great Game.

Quest for Kim: In Search of Kipling's Great Game

Biographies & Memoirs

Hidden behind the Himalayas and ruled over by a God-king, Tibet has always cast a powerful spell over travellers form the West. In this remarkable, and ultimately tragic narrative, Peter Hopkirk recounts the forcible opening up of this medieval land during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the extraordinary race between agents, soldiers, missionaries, mountaineers, explorers, and mystics from nine different countries to reach Lhasa, Tibet's sacred capital. His story concludes with the ultimate act of trespass - the Chinese invasion of 1950. This book is intended for those with a general interest in the Far East, history, and adventure. Some academic interest.

Trespassers on the Roof of the World: The Race for Lhasa

Travel

As the European revolution failed to materialize, Lenin decreed, `Let us turn our faces towards Asia. The East will help us to conquer the West.' Pieced together from secret reports and eye-witness memoirs, this is the first book to tell the story of the Bolshevik attempt to spread Marxism throughout Asia and its frustration by British Indian intelligence agents. An extraordinary story of the intrigue and treachery of the Great Game, its key players include Chinese warlords, Muslim visionaries, and a White Russian baron who roasted his Communist captives alive.

Setting the East Ablaze: On Secret Service in Bolshevik Asia

Russia

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