Product Description

'My position was uncomfortable. Here was I, in an absolutely exposed place, with Red Guards and commissars on every side. I had very little money left and no means of transport at all.' Paul Nazaroff was the ringleader of a desperate plot to overthrow the Bolsheviks in Central Asia in 1918. He was betrayed to the Secret Police, who declared him 'the most dangerous counter-revolutionary at large in the Tashkent region'. Thus began his extraordinary catalogue of adventures, 'a long and distant odyssey which would take me right across Central Asia . . . over the Himalayas to the plains of Hindustan'. As he fled from Lenin's men, he was aided by the indigenous peoples of the region, the Kirghiz and the Sarts, whose language and culture had been steeped in since boyhood. For months he was forced to live the life of a hunted animal. Peter Hopkirk has contributed a fascinating introduction to this tale of hair-breadth 'scapes and survival against all odds, as well as an epilogue which reveals Nazaroff's later fortunes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #519570 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 348 pages

Synopsis
'My position was uncomfortable. Here was I, in an absolutely exposed place, with Red Guards and commissars on every side. I had very little money left and no means of transport at all.' Paul Nazaroff was the ringleader of a desperate plot to overthrow the Bolsheviks in Central Asia in 1918. He was betrayed to the Secret Police, who declared him 'the most dangerous counter-revolutionary at large in the Tashkent region'. Thus began his extraordinary catalogue of adventures, 'a long and distant odyssey which would take me right across Central Asia ...over the Himalayas to the plains of Hindustan'. As he fled from Lenin's men, he was aided by the indigenous peoples of the region, the Kirghiz and the Sarts, whose language and culture had been steeped in since boyhood. For months he was forced to live the life of a hunted animal. Peter Hopkirk has contributed a fascinating introduction to this tale of hair-breadth 'scapes and survival against all odds, as well as an epilogue which reveals Nazaroff's later fortunes.

About the Author
Paul Nazaroff was educated in Moscow and St Petersburg. His career as a geoloist, minerologist, and mining engineer was interrupted by the Bolshevick Revolution, which prompted him to become a counter-revolutionary agent. A man of wide sympathies and encyclopaedic knowledge, he was also highly skilled in the fields of ornithology, archaeology, ballistics, and botany, and was an accomplished linguist, huntsman, and taxidermist.

Customer Reviews

A bit dull
The review by A Customer sums it up perfectly. What should have been a very exciting tale turns into a rather dull botany field trip. A great shame as Nazaroff obviously has a sense of humour which is unfortunately only intermittently displayed. It is the first time anything bearing Peter Hopkirk's name has disappointed.

Disappointingly bland
It's difficult to see how such an exciting synopsis can lead to so dull a read. There are moments of drama, but Nazaroff manages to swamp them with irrelevant descriptions of the flora, fauna and geology of the region.

The representations of people are often stereotypical - all Bolsheviks are leather-clad demons - and the author makes no attempt to put his own situation, or the wild action surely going on around him, in any sort of context.

There is little exploration of his own politics and emotions - he had to leave his wife and family behind, and saw his dream of a White victory over the Red Army turn to dust. None of this is discussed in any meaningful political, military or personal way.

This is a minor side note to an exciting period of history. It fails to illustrate the tension and danger of that time, or of the personal impact that must have had.