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Like Hidden Fire: The Plot to Bring Down the British Empire
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price:
$19.95
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$13.57
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Manufacturer: Kodansha Globe
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.486
EAN: 9781568361277
ISBN: 1568361270
Label: Kodansha Globe
Manufacturer: Kodansha Globe
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: 1997-05-15
Publisher: Kodansha Globe
Studio: Kodansha Globe
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Editorial Reviews:
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A GRIPPING STORY OF IMPERIAL AMBITION, SWASHBUCKLING ADVENTURE, AND THE KAISER'S OWN JIHAD.
An acclaimed historian tells, for the first time, the full story of the conspiracy between the Germans and the Turks to unleash a Muslim holy war against the British in India and the Russians in the Caucasus. Drawing on recently opened intelligence files and rare personal accounts, Peter Hopkirk skillfully reconstructs the Kaiser's bold plan and describes the exploits of the secret agents on both sides-disguised variously as archaeologists, traders, and circus performers-as they sought to foment or foil the uprising and determine the outcome of World War I.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The German attempt to bring down the British Empire.
Comment: During World War I, Germany and the Kaiser attempted to bring down the British Empire in India and Burma. Since Germany was already allied with the Ottoman Empire, the Kaiser and his spies attempted to make a course attempt to rally Muslims worldwide to oppose both the Russians and British. The British were also appealing to the Arabs on a nationalistic basis. The book covers the attempt by the Germans in both Persia and Afghanistan. It also covers the Russian Civil War in Central Asia. The Germans would have done better to appeal to the disaffected Muslim element in Russian Central Asia.
This is my fourth book I have read from Hopkirk. He is a great story teller and weaves his several themes well in this book. I have enjoyed his books greatly and wish he would write on other subjects. This is a fascinating read.
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Summary: Another Hopkirk Treasure
Comment: You can count on Peter Hopkirk to deliver fascinating accounts of the lands that served as the arena for The Great Game, and this is no exception. In this well-done volume, Hopkirk tells the tales of intrigue launched at the outset of WWI, mostly aimed at the destruction of the British Empire. While the world was focused on the carnage in Europe, a lesser-known war was raging in Central Asia, where the players were the dying Ottoman Empire, the newly emergent Bolsheviks plus Persian and Caucasian forces and, of course, the British. Hopkirk records these events with a journalists eye toward telling a compelling story. So much of today's world was influenced by the events Hopkirk describes. This is a valuable book which rounds out our knowledge of a most turbulent time.
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Summary: The fire that nearly engulfed the world
Comment: Hopkirk delivers a wonderful book in his look at how the British Empire was forced to respond to Germany's attempts to destroy its empire. The book is the most terrifying installment of the series as Hopkirk describes Germany's efforts to raise a holy war in the Middle East. The efforts of the British to stop it are impressive and once again show the triumph and finesse of the British imperial system. This is another fascinating book that looks at how the British empire lasted throughout the turbulent years of world war 1. As always the book is very well written and impressively displayed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An Okay-to-Good Book
Comment: THE GREAT GAME was a great book. Suspenseful, interesting, etc.
LIKE HIDDEN FIRE, in comparison, doesn't really come close to comparing to THE GREAT GAME.
LIKE HIDDEN FIRE has its moments where you're flipping pages in anticipation of the next page, but in a book with nearly 500 pages, there aren't enough moments like this and the existing moments don't last long enough.
Can't quite really put my finger on any specific issue. The overall storytelling sort of wanders from one area or time into another one, and you weren't quite sure what the connection was. Other accounts are told, only to seem as if there was really no other point to include it.
Don't get me wrong. This is not a bad book, per se. If you haven't read either book yet, read THE GREAT GAME before this one (aside from the fact that THE GRAT GAME historically precedes LIKE HIDDEN FIRE).
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Summary: Why they call it World War
Comment: So many aspects of our present world and the dilemmas that plague us now grew out of the backrooms, the backwoods and the backwaters of the world. Even today, Central Asia is a mystery to most people in the US. "Like Hidden Fire" is a great place to start to learn how complex the world is and why the peoples of the Middle East and Central Asia might have just a little mistrust of the West and its motives.
The story is the down and dirty of the German efforts to unseat the British Empire leading up to and during the First World War. It includes efforts to create a Holy War against the British and champion the Kaiser as a "Defender of the Faith" (the Faith in question being Islam, of course).
The trail takes us from intrigue to counter intrigue through Turkey, Iran and into Central Asia where then, as today, the Westerners are more pawns in the local struggles than vice versa.
This is totally relevent to today both in understanding the local issues as well as how shallow the West is in dealing with the people and culture of the Middle East and Central Asia.
The work is as vast and complex as the region and the people it covers. Set some time aside to read it and don't be surprised if you find yourself exploring the people, places and other works that are cited in the book.
-Mike
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