The Silk Road, which linked imperial Rome and distant China, was once the greatest thoroughfare on earth. Along it travelled precious cargoes of silk, gold and ivory, as well as revolutionary new ideas. Its oasis towns blossomed into thriving centres of Buddhist art and learning. In time it began to[...]

'Let us turn our faces towards Asia', exhorted Lenin when the long-awaited revolution in Europe failed to materialize. 'The East will help us conquer the West.' Peter Hopkirk's book tells for the first time the story of the Bolshevik attempt to set the East ablaze with the heady new gospel of Marxis[...]

In the lonely passes and blazing deserts of Central Asia, a deadly struggle took place in the last century between secret agents of the two superpowers - Victorian Britain and Tsarist Russia. One of the most gripping episodes in imperial history, it is known as the Great Game. Today, following the s[...]