The Great Game

Peter Hopkirk has travelled widely over many years in the regions where his six books are set --- Central Asia, the Caucasus, China, India and Pakistan, Iran and Eastern Turkey. Before turning full-time author, he was an ITN reporter and newscaster for two years, the New York correspondent of the old Daily Express, and worked for nearly twenty years on The Times; five as its chief reporter, and latterly as Middle and Far East specialist. In the 1950s he edited the West African news magazine Drum, sister paper to its legendary South African namesake. Before entering Fleet Street he served as a subaltern in the King's African Rifles --- in the same battalion as Lance Corporal Idi Amin, later to emerge as the Ugandan tyrant. No stranger to misadventure, Hopkirk has twice been held in secret-police cells --- in Cuba and the Middle East --- and also been hijacked by Arab terrorists. His works have been translated into fourteen languages. In 1999 he was awarded the Sir Percy Sykes Memorial Medal for his writing and travels by the Royal Society for Asian Affairs.

出版者:John Murray

作者:Peter Hopkirk

页数:592

出版时间:2006-3-27

价格:GBP 9.99

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9780719564475

图书标签:中亚历史近代史geopolitics国际政治英国歷史地緣政治

For nearly a century the two most powerful nations on earth - Victorian Britain and Tsarist Russia - fought a secret war in the lonely passes and deserts of Central Asia. Those engaged in this shadowy struggle called it 'The Great Game', a phrase immortalized in Kipling's Kim.

When play first began the two rival empires lay nearly 2,000 miles apart. By the end, some Russian outposts were within 20 miles of India.

This classic book tells the story of the Great Game through the exploits of the young officers, both British and Russian, who risked their lives playing it. Disguised as holy men or native horse-traders, they mapped secret passes, gathered intelligence and sought the allegiance of powerful khans. Some never returned. The violent repercussions of the Great Game are still convulsing Central Asia today.

读后感

这一版的副标题被改成了The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia，用了美亚的试读确认是同一本书后购入，只要11块半。代价就是印刷质量，活脱脱一盗版书，居然字号偶有参差不齐，地图也不是很清晰，不过并不妨碍阅读。 作者基本上是站在英国的视角讲故事，因为有很多二手材料...  

一本讲述英俄逐鹿中亚的书。在扩张领土方面，俄国人历来坚定，这段历史有助于认清俄国人的本质。在被蒙古人肆虐百年之后，俄国人弹起来的高度惊人。即使面对大英帝国，她也不乏耐心、毅力、谋略、勇气、欺诈、恐吓、残暴了。她一点点的将除了印度之外的所有土地全部收入囊中，...  

小时候看《新闻联播》时常常会听到比如“高加索”“克什米尔”等等和各种分不太清楚的叫“斯坦”的国家们，这些听着耳熟能详但其实到现在依旧不甚了了。之前并没有读过相关题材的书，所以暂时说不上这本书写得算不算好，在书的前面很多章大部分都是这么开头的——一个精神熠熠...  

霍普柯克这部作品，看起来归为带学术性的通俗历史写作或科普读物一类可能更合适些。这么说毫无贬低之意，我也不认为哪个比哪个就一定更高。而且全书视野宏大，作者也投入了某种感情，读来不仅有知识上的提升，也令人为之动容。不论是俄罗斯帝国边疆军人的勃勃雄心，还是大英帝...  

......将近一个世纪的时间里，世界两大强权——维多利亚英国和沙皇俄国——在中亚寂寥的隘口和沙漠展开了一场秘密战。那些战斗和阴谋的亲历者们把这场秘密战称为"大棋局"（the great game），这个词经由kipling的经典小说"Kim"而在当时广为人知。在19世纪初，这场大戏刚刚开场...  

用户评价

A galloping read.....

书是好书，佩服作者吊人胃口的能力，但多余的话也是有点多，而且不看作者都知道是个英国人也写的。

书是好书，佩服作者吊人胃口的能力，但多余的话也是有点多，而且不看作者都知道是个英国人也写的。

A galloping read.....

这本书是从英国人的立场写的。如果说俄国人贪婪和厚颜无耻，那英国人就只能用奸诈和伪善来形容了。出人意料的，大博弈终结的原因居然是日本和德国的兴起。腐朽的清廷只能让这些强盗在周边和领土上觊觎和横行而无可奈何，甚或全然无知。此前伊宁见过左宗棠元帅府旧址，今日才知道从沙俄手中夺回这些地方是何等不易。不过这本书时间跨度很长，每个片段又写得不够精彩，颇有点流水账的感觉。读的电子书里的地图基本看不清楚，幸而有此前刚读的《丝绸之路》第287页的地图，才让这些地理关系比较清楚。