Product Description

'one of the best books about secret intelligence work ever written' Peter Hopkirk. Colonel F. M. Bailey, whose extraordinary adventures are told here, was long accused by Moscow of being a British master-spy sent in 1918 to overthrow the Bolsheviks in Central Asia. As a result, he enjoyed many years after his death an almost legendary reputation there - that of half-hero, half-villain. In this remarkable book he tells of the perilous game of cat-and-mouse, lasting sixteen months, which he played with the Bolshevik secret police, the dreaded Cheka. At one point, using a false identity, he actually joined the ranks of the latter, who unsuspectingly sent him to Bokhara to arrest himself. Told with almost breathtaking understatement, Bailey's narrative - set in a region once more back in the headlines - reads like vintage Buchan.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48651 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 314 pages

About the Author
Frederick Bailey was a British explorer and secret agent, considered by many to be the last true player in the Great Game. In 1904, as a Tibetan-speaking subaltern, he had ridden into the forbidden city of Lhasa as a member of a team to investigate reports of a Russian presence there. Later, his travels in Tibet and China earned him the highly prized gold explorer's medal of the Royal Geographical Society. Between 1905 and 1909 he served as a British Trade Agent - really a cover
for political intelligence work - at Gyantse in southern Tibet. Later he accompanied a British punitive expedition into northern Assam as its intelligence officer, and was awarded the coveted MacGregor Medal for explorations contributing to the defence of India. During the First World War he was posted as an intelligence officer to Shushtar in Persia, and in 1918 returned to India to undertake the secret mission into Central Asia which is the subject of this book.

Customer Reviews

Better than fiction
There are two excellent reasons for reading this book. The first is that it is it an extraordinary story, well told. The second is that it dovetails beautifully with other memoirs and accounts of the time, notably Narzaroff's Hunted Through Central Asia and many of the superb books written by or (as Mission) introduced by Peter Hopkirk . If you want to know what it was like to be an Englishman alone amid the shifting malignant currents of the Russian Revolution, hunted by the secret police, living on your wits yet trying to carry out a mission, this is the book for you. Better than fiction.

A fantastic spy story & historical snap-shot of Central Asia
I have read a number of excellent books concerning Central Asia History and the 'Great Game' exploits between the Soviet & British Empires, but this rates amongst the best because it is a first-hand account written by an excellent author.

Not only is Bailey's an amazing story of cunning & courage of a man trapped & isolated in hostile territory but it is also a marvelous snap-shot of a far-flung corner of the Soviet Empire during it's fledgling days. Baileys has great powers of observation and this enables him to describe in detail both the people and the country around him.

Although this book makes a great read by itself, I believe to fully appreciate the importance of Bailey's Mission and how stranded he was really was, some knowledge of the political setting helps add to the enjoyment of the book. I can recommend Peter Hopkirk's 'Setting the East Ablaze' which is another great book and puts Bailey's Mission in context with the bigger picture.

The only problem with this book is that it leaves a great desire to visit the places mentioned and to keep looking for other books that cover the same subject and the people that Bailey encountered on his journey.

A first class man rediscovered
Mission to Tashkent is a fascinating read - it's the original ripping yarn or thrilling tale before all others, but it's not a work of fiction. This is the actual story of an explorer turned agent, a British 'master-spy' as Moscow referred to him.

Bailey had sixteen months of intelligence gathering and evasion amongst the terror of the Bolshevik Revolution sweeping across Central Asia, and this acount of his travels and experiences is a 'must' read, to not just have a better understanding of the times and the mood of this era, but to show due respect to a great adventurer.