The Caspian Region, lying south of Russia, west of China and north of Afghanistan, contains the world's largest untapped oil and gas resources. In the years between the death of the Soviet Union and September 11, 2001, oil companies and politicians have struggled to possess and develop these resources.Using a concept immortalised by Kipling in his novel Kim, Lutz Kleveman argues that there is now a new 'Great Game' in the region, in which the US, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Iran - most of which are nuclear powers - are competing.. Kleveman has produced an insightful and exacting portrait of a new theatre of war, a region in which there are few rules and in which the rewards for victory are nothing less than power and prosperity in the new century.

From the reviews:
'A timely, panoramic book examin[ing] the consequences of the presence of enormous quantities of fossil fuels in one of the world's most inaccessible and unstable regions.' Andy Beckett, The Guardian

'Kleveman brim[s] with ingenuity... His reportage is first-class and his findings truly enlightening.' Hazhir Teimourian, Literary Review

'Travelling with some danger to himself and marshalling the political and historical facts with authority, Kleveman [produces] a coherent study of a notoriously complex and unpredictable region, much of which is torn by terrible violence and civil wars.' --Patrick French, Sunday Times