The legendary “Great Game” of imperial rivalry in Central Asia began long before it was immortalised by Rudyard Kipling. At its centre stood the British officer and spy Arthur Conolly, whose daring missions and tragic death in Bokhara epitomised the risks of nineteenth-century intelligence work. Reconstructing Conolly’s world, this book reveals how the improvisational espionage of empire laid the foundations for the modern intelligence systems that still shape global strategy today. —Peter John Brobst, Associate Professor of History, Ohio University, author of The Future of The Great Game: Sir Olaf Caroe, India’s Independence, and the Defense of Asia (University of Akron Press, 2005) The more one considers the complexity of Connolly’s life and times as a British agent, the more one comes to respect the skill of David Mould as a writer and historian. Though the events in this book took place nearly 200 years ago, the setting is very relevant when one considers the current turmoil in Afghanistan, Russia, and Iran. —Pete Kosky, author and historian Arthur Connolly was a man with a vision and impressive faith who ranged over tremendous distances and overcame hardships and risk in pursuit of his ideals and service to his country. A story set in the context of the competition between Great Britain and Imperial Russia, featuring medieval states and opportunistic highwaymen. —John Brennan, Ohio University
