Customer Reviews

Sir Aurel Stein: Archaeological Explorer

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There have been two biographies written about Sir Aurel Stein: this admirable pioneering effort by Jeanette Mirsky, and Annabel Walker's "Aurel Stein--Pioneer of the Silk Road," which was published about 20 years later. Both are available on Amazon.com. I purchased and read both, and Amazon asked me to review them. I have done so and compared the two in a review under the Amazon.com entry for Walker's book. Please go to it if you would like a lengthy comparison. But the bottom line is: 1) in my view, Stein is an exemplar of the great life productively lived and he thus merits your attention whether you are that interested or not in Central Asian archaeology; and 2) of the two biographies produced on him, Walker's is clearly the one to read first and then, if you are hooked on Sir Aurel Stein (as I was), you will find Mirsky's book of value as a more personal view of the man. Again, more detail is to be found under my review of Walker's book.

Jeanette Mirsky, formerly affiliated with the USIS and Princeton University, has written a biography of Sir Aurel Stein that is sure to appeal to scholars interested by the life of this most fascinating explorer.

In order to write her book, Mirsky went to significant lengths to find and read Stein's correspondence with his relatives and friends, and then, in then when she wrote the book, chose to quote very liberally from his letters, to such an extent that this book is not as much a biography as snippets of his letters interspersed with a running commentary that is a biography. Stein was an extremely fascinating explorer: as a philologist and explorer he had few peers. Unfortunately men of his caliber are no longer made nowadays in our age of MTV and plane trips to China; for scholars who want to read the primary sources, or rather abridged parts of his translated letters, this book will truly be invaluable. But the very complexity and sophistication of Ms. Mirsky's book mean that it is not the sort of book you would want to give to your teen to get him or her interested in Central Asian history.

As the editorial reviewer stated, this is indeed a first rate biography. It only lacks good map which is something hard to understand considering the subject. However, don't let this put you off; find an atlas with a map of central Asia and enjoy.