On Horseback through Asia Minor [Paperback]

Frederick Burnaby (Author), Peter Hopkirk (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 23, 1996

In the savage winter of 1876 Captain Frederick Burnaby rode 1,000 miles eastwards from Constantinople to see for himself what the Russians were up to in this remote corner of the Great Game battelfield. With wars between Turkey and Russia imminent, he wanted to discover, among other things, whether the Sultan's armies were capable of resisting a determined Tsarist thrust towards Constantinople.

Frederick Gustav Burnaby was no ordinary officer. For a start he was reputed to be the strongest man in the British Army. Nor was he all brawn, being fluent in seven languages and possessing a vigorous and colorful prose style--as readers of this Great Game classic will discover.

With his servant Radford, he spend five months riding across some of the cruellest winter landscape in the world before hastening home to write this best-seller.

Editorial Reviews

Review

... combines the romance for travel, with the romance of the past, offering, in effect, two trips for the price of one. -- The New York Times Book Review, William Grimes

About the Author

Frederick Gustavus Burnaby was a soldier, traveller, writer, and pioneer balloonist. He was reputed to be the strongest man in the British Army, and spoke no fewer than seven languages. In 1875, on a one-man Great Game mission, he rode to Khiva in Central Asia, and the following year set out from Constantinople for eastern Turkey. In 1885 he was speared to death while campaigning in the Sudan, where he is buried somewhere in the desert.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 23, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192825003
• ISBN-13: 978-0192825001
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,709,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now this is real adventure travel!, June 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: On Horseback through Asia Minor (Paperback)

Who in their right mind would voluntarily undertake an expedition on horseback thru Asia Minor in winter...Frederick Burnaby did in the year 1876, a time of intrigue in the Ottoman Empire and Russia where the forces that shaped WWI and 20th century alliances took root. This is an opportunity to travel back into time and traverse Asia Minor prior to the invention of the automobile. You will meet people from all classes and cultures; Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Persian and more. Burnaby tells of his trip with dry humor and with a suprisingly enlightened view of women, considering the times. This is a good read and worth the price of the book. For adventure travelers with time and money on their hands, retracing Burnaby's route on horseback would be a challenge even today.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars historical travel writing at its best, November 23, 2007

By 

traveler - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Horseback through Asia Minor (Paperback)

This book is a joy for the armchair traveler. It takes you back to a place and a time, to a Turkish winter in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. Burnaby's style is immediate, and compellingly readable. He lets you feel the mud, the cold, the mood of the times -- and the exotic east. It's great stuff. Crossing Anatolia by horseback in the winter, trying to track down rumors then circulating in Europe of anti-Armenian sentiment among the Turks, Burnaby finds the rumors to be baseless. But through every step of his wild goose chase, while we follow him through village after village, Burnaby describes in colorful detail the environment, and the people he meets. The first three-quarters of this book read like fiction, like a good, rollicking adventure story. It doesn't have a crisis near the end, like an adventure novel would, but Burnaby's story is all the better for being true.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Adventure Book, January 27, 2009

By 

Deipnosophist "cw3rd" (Tucson, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: On Horseback through Asia Minor (Paperback)

Fred Burnaby did as much as possible, often using his intelligence over his admirable physical strength!

A GOOD READ!

This guy traveled all over Russia/Middle East/Africa/Turkey with tales you will be glad you read about!