John Ure (1939–2023)

The stirring tales of a hardy band of Victorian adventurers, participants in 'The Great Game' played out in the vast expanse of Asia.

John Ure, a former UK Ambassador, assembles a series of accounts about nomadic peoples is different parts of the world. The interest lies both in the series of larger than life characters, including a fair measure of oddballs, who travelled with nomads, as much as in the nomadic peoples themselves.

A travelogue with great gulps of culture thrown in. This is one of my favorite books!

This book is essentially a synopsis of the lives of characters who spent time with nomadic tribes in Northern Africa or Central Asia. It does read very much like "a potted history of..." but contains the more interesting details of these peoples lives. As such it probably tells you as much about their interests as the lifestyles of the peoples they were fascinated with. It is a very readable book and does contain a little detail of the authors own experiences.