I won't repeat too much of the praise already heaped upon this book, other than to say it is well deserved. Hopkirk has a very engaging writing style that makes it very difficult to put the book down.

Just a few notes:

- Hopkirk does a good job of staying on topic in a book that encompasses many regions and personalities. Often this means he has choosen to not take certain stories to their conclusion or lay all the groundwork for certain narratives. It can leave you wanting more in some cases, but the alternative would be a two thousand page book.

- A reviewer complained about the maps, but I must say I was most impressed with them. Almost every place he mentions is marked on the maps. Obviously if you want a larger context to the area you may need to visit an atlas or google maps, but after that the maps in the book follow the text quite closely.

- The book is certainly from the British perspective because at the time of writing that was where most of the source material came from and the author is British as well. That said, I don't think this was one sided as the author is clearly critical of the British motives in many circumstances and has outlined the conflicting Russian motives reasonably well.

In any case, a top notch book you won't regret reading.

A very informative book about the Great Game, the 19th century version of the cold war between Imperial Russia and the British Empire, as both powers tried to dominate over Asia. The author, Peter Hopkirk, tells how Britain, the dominant power in South Asia at the time, saw ominously how Russia, as it took over Central Asia, became closer and closer to its Indian dominions. Hopkirk tries to tell the story as neutrally as he can, and the material covered is so interesting that each of its 30 plus chapters could, if expanded, be a book of its own. The book covers a whole century, from the early, failed attempts of Russia to occupy the then unknown emirates of Central Asia (where many of its subjects were enslaved) to Francis Younghusband's invasion of Tibet, and takes place as well in places as different as the Caucasus, Persia, Afghanistan, Xinjiang and the High Pamirs. By the end of the 19th century, direct war between the two powers seemed inevitable, but almost miraculously this was avoided. As Britain and Russia became allies during two world wars during the 20th century (and the Soviet Union seem to hold a firm grip over Central Asia) this story was sort of forgotten, but with the independence of the Stans, and the present troubles in the Middle East, the book seems surprisingly urgent. Highly reccomended.

Since deploying to Afghanistan I've made an effort to read what books of the country that I can get my hands on, both fiction and historical. If I were to put together a reading list of book on Afghanistan this one would be at the top. This is because Peter Hopkirk's book puts Afghanistan's modern history (from when it became a nation in 1747) in perspective with the larger history of central Asia.

It would therefore be disingenuous to say that The Great Game is about Afghanistan, although the country played a prominent role. The treatment of the first and second Afghan wars in this book is among the best I have read.

One of the things that Hopkirk does extremely well is to bring to life the remarkable individuals, both Russian and British (to include Indian) who did amazing feats of exploration and intrigue for both sides. Many of these individuals displayed remarkable courage and whit as the went often alone and in disguise into hostile and unexplored areas for their countries. It is hard not to impressed by the exploits and bravery displayed by both sides even if one does not completely agree with their governments goals or objectives.

While I learned much of US history and those of the world wars, the struggle for central Asia was immense and covered centuries. Those who, like myself, knew little of the immense power plays that took place and shaped this part of the world would do well to read this book.

When I started reading this book I assume it would be a very good historical accounting of this fascinating region. Instead it turned out to read like a mystery novel with dozens of twist and turns while learning about this unknown region. The fact this same region dominates our news and future makes it all the more rewarding. Enjoy!

The Great Game is a story of bravery, cruelty, honor, greed, and violence. In the name of national honor, Great Britain and Russia found themselves locked into a strategic chess match over Central and Southern Asia. The exotic realms of the region were the pawns. By the 1700s Russia and Great Britain were established nation states, both looking to expand. Britain's prize to protect was India/Pakistan and it moved north in present day Afghanistan to secure its flank. Russia's imperial designs lurched it southward in a slow but steady imperial land grab.

Where these two empires met, mainly present day Afghanistan, became the center of gravity for the great game. The only catch were the primitive, but fierce tribesman of Afghanistan who fought and resisted any invasion. Neither empire was ever any to control any more of the country than the few miles outside of Kabul. Now, hundreds of years later, the great game continues with international forces once again attempting to exert control in an area that has been in a constant state of imperial resistance for hundreds of years.

The book bring the action to life. It is gripping and exciting, while also being extremely well researched. An all-time favorite.

This is a fabulous book. You can read it again and again. His book "Setting the East Ablaze" is almost as good.

Am not qualified to judge the scholarship but, as someone who grew up on tales of derring-do in the Khyber Pass, this is a fascinating detailing of the larger reality behind the Kipling-esque "Great Game" tagline. And, as an account of two imperial powers duking it out back and forth across Central Asia, it is not without relevance to an age when Afghanistan, and impenetrable Waziristan are still a part of the puzzle and there remains no lack of imperial hubris and ignorance in dealing with the folks there (evidenced by the recent announcement of an Administration plan to spend $700-800 million "winning hearts and minds" in Waziristan - it's like some people never learn!) The geniuses behind that decision should spend a little summer reading time with Mr Hopkirk and the imperial experience of that bit of history.

"The Great Game" is an enjoyable read and the 600 pages go surprisingly quickly. I read this as background for an upcoming trip to the region and from the perspective of the post-Cold War era, it's amazing how so many dynamics of the Cold War were in place over 100 years earlier. The chess moves of the British and the Russians and the many intrepid "explorers" provide plenty to hold the reader's interest. I would have given it 5 stars, but the references aren't well tied to the text, so it's unclear to the lay man how to evaluate the scholarship. Hopkirk certainly has a track record, however, there always are disputes in the attempt to piece together history.

Hopkirk is the master of the Middle East history books! FAST READ!! and I am a slow reader!

Hopkirks BEST book yet! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, it's like being there!

"Reads like a novel" ??? Come on, folks! The yellow pages of any phone book are far more exciting. This text takes a subject of great potential, & reduces it to the dried up dust of a Central Asian desert. I am disgusted with Mr. Hopkirk, because I truely love real History. This author is only one of the sorry crowd who destroy interest in even the most eager seeker. Our schools are full of them. This text belongs to the times when books were sold by the pound, rather than the content. As a former teacher - & lifelong seeker after the amazing truths of history - I consign Mr. Hopkirk to the dust bin.

This is truly one of the best books I have ever read. It takes the reader from 1814-1914 and walks through the conflict that embroiled central Asia for a century. It looks at how the British tried to defend their empire (notably India) by using proxies in Pakistan and Afghanistan. If you are wondering how the divisions are set up in the Middle East and central Asia today they are born during the Great Game. The book reads like a spy novel and is so well written you will not even notice you are reading history. The story takes you in and you wonder why there has not been a movie yet. It is amazing to see what these people went through and the things that were done in the line of duty for empire on both sides. Highly recommend and note that this is really part one of three of an official trilogy so make sure you see the other great books on the Great Game

This is truly one of the best books I have ever read. It takes the reader from 1814-1914 and walks through the conflict that embroiled central Asia for a century. It looks at how the British tried to defend their empire (notably India) by using proxies in Pakistan and Afghanistan. If you are wondering how the divisions are set up in the Middle East and central Asia today they are born during the Great Game. The book reads like a spy novel and is so well written you will not even notice you are reading history. The story takes you in and you wonder why there has not been a movie yet. It is amazing to see what these people went through and the things that were done in the line of duty for empire on both sides. Highly recommend and note that this is really part one of three of an official trilogy so make sure you see the other great books on the Great Game

Yes, I've been reduced to clichés by Peter Hopkirk's tales of derring-do in the treacherous mountains of Central Asia. The Great Game recounts the 19th and early 20th century exploits of intrepid British and Russian explorers and spies jockeying for influence and information in dangerous tribal lands. The goal: finding ways to defend (the British) or penetrate (the Russians) the overland pathways to British India -- and all the riches therein. The stories here would make a great movie - and no doubt some already have. I found particularly thrilling Hopkirk's recreation of the British assault on the Afghan fortress at Ghazni, the race to relieve a besieged British garrison at Chitral and the campaign against Hunza. Although Hopkirk clearly relishes telling tales of individual adventurers like Francis Younghusband, Henry Pottinger and Nikolai Muraviev, he never loses sight of the big picture: the rivalry between imperial Britain and imperial Russia. I never before realized the scope of Russia's 19th century territorial conquests in Central Asia or the ruthless, indeed shameless, way the czarist governments conducted diplomacy. Even so, Hopkirk is willing to give the Russians their due for bravery, audacity and occasional chivalry. Hopkirk also is very good at something that eludes many authors: describing geography clearly, so the reader can understand where things are happening and why they are happening there. In short: This is fascinating history that unfolds like a novel.

I am just a traveller to this area and don't have any authority to prove it if the facts inside this book is real or not, but history couldn't be so exciting, could it? Or Mr Peter Hopkirk has a wonderful hand to put down the whole story in such an exciting and comprehensive prose and it's just impossible to put it down until the last page, and immediately you would want to start it again. This is the best history book I've ever read. Thanks!

It seems that Shakespeare said it best, "What's past is prologue." In preparation for a sojourn to the Middle East, which I now consider to be a misnomer, I sought out recommendations for reading material. Peter Hopkirk's "The Great Game" was recommended as the first book I should read. I was well served by that recommendation, and found that Mr. Hopkirk's book provided an outstanding primer for this part of the world. Mr. Hopkirk drew me in with the manner in which he presented his information. I found his narrative to be a very easy read, yet it was also rich with detail. I am far more knowledgeable for having read his book, and would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone who wants to gain insights into Central Asia. Only after reading "The Great Game," did I truly begin to appreciate the complexties of Central Asia, the dynamics of the regions relationships with other regions and why it's so often misunderstood. My take away is that, as is often the case, the players may have changed, but Kipling's "Great Game" continues. Mr. Hopkirk's book offers an opportunity, for those who want to try, to learn the rules of a game that continues to be played.

This book describes a geographical area and historical period not well known to a majority of Italian readers. For this reason its recent translation and pubblication for the Italian Adelphi editions (that by the way had also published Robert Byron's Road to Oxiana) has been a great success. The topic is vast and many relations to contemporary world history are underlined. However, the book, in my opinion, has two souls. One soul is represented by the chronology of the events described, which some reviewers (see complete list of customer reviews)have mentioned as sometimes incorrect or at least one-sided (english-sided that is); but we must remember what documents the author had at hand and how difficult it is even today to consult the opinion of russians or the inhabitants of central asia. The historical narrative is chronological, easy to consult, and the major landmines are incisevely underlined, so that at the end of the book even the prophane reader has a clear picture of the topic. The other soul of the book,is represented by the fascination of the author with his heroes, because, yes, the british travelers, soldiers, merchants and spies, where all heroes (not so much their comanders)! The description of the men involved in this story is overly encomiastic; they all come out of adventur books of the 1920-30. There is no critical historical appreciation of their actions.
The book reads like a novel? Sometimes I got bored because it is a little repetitive in that it concentrates only on military actions (naturally it written by a man), but I think the author got bored as well in the middle of his stream. The beginning and the end of the book are the only parts that somehow speak to our heart and that we will remember at the long distance.
In conclusion, I didn't like it so much, but I found it interesting, eventhough after reading it I sujest the reading of all the 69 amazon customer reviews, expecially those of non english or american readers.

This is a novel for history buffs, as well as political scientists and adventurers. It is a fascinating read with an enormous amount of relevance to the current political and military strategies of the United States, Russia, India, Afghanistan, et al. It is a book one does not want to put down and it thoroughly and uniquely covers 19th century intrigue in a part of the world which is once again experiencing the same kind of drama.

There is a poignancy about this book that one doesnt often find in histories. The dreamers, schemers, heroes, villains, of the Great Game; their tales well told, in the end, vanish and leave little behind them. Russia's empire disappears in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union; Britain's disappears with the independence of India. What is left are graves and wondrous great stories.

Even while reading the first page you get the feeling that this book is going to be enormously interesting.

The subject itself is fascinating, covering the exploration and conqeusts of unknown lands by the main adversaries-Britain and Russia- primarily to advance the glory of the respective empires. Added to that, Hopkirk's ability as a master story teller makes this a masterful narrative.

The extensive research that the author has done is evident in every sentence. There is not a single boring sentence in this book.

This is by far the best written book I have read in a long time. Besides a good story, the book also provides valuable insight into an aspect of history that other books on the British and Russian empires do not cover.

Very highly recommended

I came across the term Great Game first while reading Byron Farwell's "Armies of the Raj," and then later in Kipling's "Kim." It was in the appendix of Kim that I first read about Peter Hopkirk's "The Great Game." Hopkirk's account - though biased towards the British point of view - details the events in the Great Game with a flair and style that makes it extremely interesting to read. The voyages of the soldiers and civilians involved in the Great Game, the numerous instances of treachery and cruelty which were a norm with the rulers of the Central Asian khanates of the time, the two wars in Afghanistan that were catastrophic to the British, the two failed expeditions to Khiva that did tremendous damage to the prestige of the Russians, etc., are all described with meticulous details in this wonderful book of almost 550 pages.

The term Great Game was first coined by Arthur Conolly, a captain in the British army, and is used to describe the epic standoff between Russia and Britain for the control of India and Central Asia in the nineteenth century. There were many players in this Great Game from both the sides - brave men who thought nothing of venturing into hostile territories hitherto unknown to westerners to gather valuable political and military information for their countries. Many - including Conolly - perished playing this dangerous game of intrigue and espionage. The British, wary of any move on part of the Russians that would bring them closer to India, did everything in their power to extend their influence over the Central Asian khanates of Khiva, Bokhara, Samarkand, Kashgar, and especially Afghanistan. The Russians, on their part, after suffering some initial setbacks, ended up conquering most of the Central Asian countries around them (these countries were to remain a part of the Soviet Union till its collapse in 1991).

Fortunately, Britain and Russia did not get into a direct confrontation during this whole episode, and the Great Game finally ended after about a century with the Anglo-Russian convention of 1907. There were times, however, when war appeared to be imminent between the two superpowers of the time. Once, even Napoleon Bonaparte had planned to attack India with Russia's help. Things, however, soon went sour between him and Tsar Alexander I, and he ended up invading Russia - a costly mistake which resulted in a humiliating defeat for his army. Apart from the Central Asian countries, many other countries like Turkey, Persia, and China also got sucked into this game because of their proximity to both India and Russia.

These days, when Central Asia is in the limelight again because of recent developments in the world, this book was especially helpful to me in understanding the geography, politics, and culture of that region (before reading this book, I was not even aware of the names of many Central Asian countries). Now I am planning to read the rest of Peter Hopkirk's books to get an even better understanding of that part of the world.

Hopkirk's history of the Great Game is a solid accounting of the region's history. Although obviously biased towards the British point of view (it was written during when the Soviet Union still controlled Russia), it is as straightforward and to the point as most other history books that I have deemed worthy for my shelves.

When read in conjunction with a Bernard Lewis work, or another great read, "The Taliban", by Rashid, one can get a very clear picture of the past ~200 years of the region.

As I mentioned earlier, the book is written from the British point of view, so I find most criticism of "racism" towards Central Asian inhabitants misguided. In fact, Hopkirk goes out of his way to delve into the individual kingdoms and local politics of the region.

A style of Hopkirk's that I enjoy is when he comes across a significant event that occured during the "Great Game"; he mentions it, notes that it was a major event but did not affect the Great Game, and moves on. This leads to bookmarks in the places where he mentions major events so that you can research them yourself in other works down the road.

Highly recommended, one of the better histories I have read spanning the time period.

This book is certainly not dull. Despite its length, it's lively and entertaining reading that is also extremely educational. I am definitely a layman. My knowledge of this era of competition between Britain and Russia was very shadowy. What was great about this book is that it filled in so many gaps and helped me make connections to other things I knew. This book gave me a lot of insight into many things that are seemingly unrelated. I was shocked to read that the Russian playwright Griboyedov was hacked to pieces while he was serving in a diplomatic post in Central Asia. (Stage acting guru Stanislavsky devoted an entire book to the interpretation of one of Griboyedov's characters.) There were connections to the American Civil War, The Crimean War, The Boxer Rebellion, The Russo-Japanese War, the breakup of the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Revolution. It clarified a lot of Victorian literature for me, both British and Russian. Kipling's KIM is now more understandable to me and I have a better idea what Count Vronsky did in his military service in ANNA KARENINA.

But for me this book was basically a grand adventure saga, replete with spies, behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing, ambitious military campaigns and hair-raising sieges. Parts of it are extremely suspenseful. There are also passages of pure horror and violence. I found this book exceptional on many levels. This is one of the best books I've read this year (and I've read some good things lately). Five Stars.

If you like history told on a grand scale, you'll love Peter Hopkirk's "The Great Game." The author has done a superb job making an obscure epoch of nineteenth history come to life in an easily accessible and immensely entertaining narrative. Employing a style and approach highly reminiscent of such bestsellers as David Fromkin's "A Peace to End All Peace" or Robert Massie's "Dreadnought," Hopkirk uses a number of harrowing expeditions by young, intrepid (and mostly British) army officers and diplomats to convey the drama, intrigue and danger of the imperial contest that Rudyard Kipling christened "The Great Game."

A quick word of caution: this book isn't really a primer on current events in Afghanistan and the surrounding areas. I mention that because there are some exerts to that effect on the cover of the new paperback and I suspect that angle has been pushed by the publishers to promote sales. Yes, there are some graphic tales of western forces being mutilated by Muslim mobs incited by the harangues of mullahs in Kabul and other now familiar cities, but that is where the potential similarities end. In short, this is a book about nineteenth century imperial competition; Islam in general and Afghanistan in particular are elements of that story, not the focus. It is told primarily from the British perspective and focuses on their century-long cold war with imperial Russia. The borders of their global empires became, in London's opinion, uncomfortable close in the mid-1800s as Moscow's borders expanded inexorably southwards in search of new economic markets and trade routes until they encroached upon the mountain passes to northern India, thus threatening the "crown jewel" of the British Empire. For over a hundred years the British worked to parry this threat, oscillating between a proactive policy of military presence in Persia, Afghanistan and elsewhere (known as "the forward school" and leading to three wars) and the withdrawn, passive defense of India (derisively dubbed "masterly inactivity").

I found two things to be particularly remarkable in this tale. First, it is difficult to underestimate just how little the British and Russians knew about the inhabitants and topography that filled the critical buffer zone between their two great empires. It would be no exaggeration to claim that we know more today about the surface of Mars than British knew about the Pamir region north of Kashmir in the late nineteenth century. Second, most of the leading characters that explored and charted these unknown areas for their respective governments were in their mid-twenties at the time of their heroic missions. Few episodes of international grand strategy and policy have been so directly shaped by the deeds of such young men.

A number of modern historians have dismissed the threat that imperial Russian expansion presented to India, but Hopkirk asserts that the challenge was genuine and the British response reasoned and legitimate. In the process, one can't help but get the impression that after long years of close study, the author has concluded that the "forward school" was the correct one, his specific claims to be non-judgmental notwithstanding.

My brother introduced this book to me 5 years ago, but its size intimidated me, so I put it aside. Big mistake. I finally started reading it and found it completely intriguing. I had NO idea of any of the history of Russian expansionism into Central Asia. Zip. Zilch. It's a tragedy that this topic is not covered in American high school curriculums. Our teachers and professors blathered on about the cold war, but I had no idea of how Russia and the Soviet Union came to be what they were/are in the 20th and 21st centuries. I would have appreciated a better background on Russian and Soviet acquisitions of surrounding territories. This book provides all that and more in a very readable, summary fashion, as a tale told around individual historic figures. Very entertaining and hard to put down.
-pj