Tournament of Shadows by Shareen Blair Brysac

Tournament of Shadows by Shareen Blair Brysac

From the romantic conflicts of the Victorian Great Game to the war-torn history of the region in recent decades, Tournament of Shadows traces the struggle for control of Central Asia and Tibet from the 1830s to the present. The original Great Game, the clandestine struggle between Russia and Britain for mastery of Central Asia, has long been regarded as one of the greatest geopolitical conflicts in history. Many believed that control of the vast Eurasian heartland was the key to world dominion. The original Great Game ended with the Russian Revolution, but the geopolitical struggles in Central Asia continue to the present day. In this updated edition, the authors reflect on Central Asia's history since the end of the Russo-Afghan war, and particularly in the wake of 9/11.

Karl E. Meyer was a longtime foreign correspondent and editorial writer at The Washington Post and The New York Times and the Editor of the World Policy Journal. A Princeton Ph.D., he has taught at Yale, Princeton, and Tufts' Fletcher School. His fourteen books include The Plundered Past, on the illicit trade in antiquities; The Art Museum: Power, Money, Ethics; and The Pleasures of Archaeology.