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Dervish Bowl

The Many Lives of Arminius Vambery

Inbunden, Engelska, 2024

AvAnabel Loyd

369 kr

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Who was Arminius Vambéry? A poverty-stricken, Jewish autodidact; a linguist, traveller, and writer; or a sometime Zionist, inspiration for Dracula’s nemesis, and British secret agent? Vambéry wrote his own story many times over. And it was these often highly embroidered accounts of journeys through Persia and Central Asia that saw him acclaimed in Victorian England as an intrepid explorer and daring adventurer. Against the backdrop of the ‘Great Game’, in which Russia and Britain jostled for territory, influence, and control of the borders and gateways to Central Asia and its wealth, Vambéry played the roles of hero and double-dealer, of fascinated witness and imperial charlatan.The Dervish Bowl is the story of these competing narratives, a compelling investigation of the ever-changing persona Vambéry created for himself, and of the man who emerges from his private correspondence and the accounts of both his friends and his enemies, many of whom were themselves major players in the geopolitical adventures of the volatile nineteenth century – a time when Britain’s ambitions for her empire were at their height, yet nothing and no one was quite as they seemed.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2024-09-12
Mått156 x 234 x 35 mm
Vikt618 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieHaus Publishing
Antal sidor397
FörlagHaus Publishing
ISBN9781913368975

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Biografi: historia, politik och försvar inom Biografier

Acknowledgements ixIntroduction 11. The Lame Boy 92. Constantinople 233. Reshid Effendi 354. The Many Lives Begin 495. Persia 636. The False Dervish 877. Khiva 1158. Bukhara 1379. The Turning Point 15310. Going Home – From Mashhad to Tehran 18111. The Dervish in London 19312. The Prophet in His Own Land 21313. The Russian Menace 23714. Royal Favour 27115. The Sultan 29916. A Jewish Homeland 31717. The British Pensioner 33518. The Last Act 349List of Illustrations 369Bibliography 371Further Reading 373Index 377

‘Arminius Vambéry was one of the shadier characters to travel the fabled Silk Roads through Persia to Central Asia. His mostly forgotten story is vividly told in Anabel Loyd’s lively and entertaining biography.’Anthony Sattin, author of Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World‘There have been many hagiographies written about Arminius Vambéry – mainly by Arminius himself – so it’s refreshing to read of his life in unvarnished detail. Anabel Loyd captures the different facets and flaws of this complex traveller, who seemed to fit in everywhere and nowhere’.Chris Aslan, author of Unravelling the Silk Road: Travels and Textiles in Central Asia‘Anabel Loyd’s biography of Arminius Vambéry is a fascinating book and a masterly study. It is both a mine of so far unknown information as well as a thrilling read which will benefit both the scholar and the general reader.’Christoph Baumer, author of The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Silk Roads