Oxford: Oxford UP, 1984. - 252 c.
Скан 600 dpiA nice followup read to Hopkirk's The Great Game, this book details the efforts between the World Wars by the Soviet Union to spread Marxism to the east. Like The Great Game, there are dashing adventurers, wily spies, lunatics, and odd characters aplenty. There are some great individual stories, such as the British agent who the Soviets hired to find himself, and several crackpots with serious delusions of grandeur.
As in his other books, Hopkirk makes extensive use of first-hand accounts written by the people involved in these events. This is both a strength - it makes you feel like you're in the thick of the action - and a weakness, since the original writers are at times a tad economical with the truth. Thus, Bailey gives no hint of what he was really up to during his months in hiding in Tashkent, whilst Alioshin's tales of serving under Ungern-Sternberg verge on the fictional. Hopkirk is aware of this and provides health warnings where appropriate.
