Younghusband: The Last Imperial Adventurer

French, Patrick

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0006376010 ISBN 13: 9780006376019

Casa editrice: Harper Perennial, 2004

‘The soldier, mystic and explorer Francis Younghusband, who fulfilled the romantic dreams of the late British Empire, was once as legendary a figure as Lawrence of Arabia. He lives again most vividly and entertainingly in this remarkable book.’ Michael Holroyd

In this travelling biography, Patrick French tells the story of the man who held the world record for the three hundred yard dash, discovered a new overland route from China to India, and organised the early assaults on Mount Everest. In 1904 it was Francis Younghusband who single-handedly turned a small diplomatic mission into a full-scale military invasion of the last unexplored country on earth: Tibet.

Younghusband spent much of his early life as a leading player in the Great Game – the battle of wits over the uncharted territory of High Asia – and his presumed death as a spy in the Pamirs almost sparked off a war between British India and Tsarist Russia. But despite being a classic Edwardian, full of pomposity and repression, in the post-World War I era, he led the way in outlandish, mystical philosophical and sexual free-thinking.

Recensione:

‘Breathtakingly accomplished.’ Jonathan Keats, Observer

‘I cannot begin to do justice to the skill and the fun of this happy work. Younghusband is a glorious biography, fair, frank, and always interesting. They don’t come much more enjoyable than this.’ Jan Morris, Independent

‘I found myself reading through the night. This is a rare gem of a book.’ Fiammetta Rocco, Independent on Sunday

‘A charming biography which mingles travel with impressive research.’ Ian Thomson, Sunday Times

‘This is a wonderful book: beautifully written, wise, balanced, fair, funny and above all extremely original...an altogether brilliant debut.’ William Dalrymple, Spectator

Praise for ‘Liberty or Death’:

‘Brilliant...There can surely now be no serious doubt French is the most impressive Western historian of modern India currently at work.’ Frank McLynn, Glasgow Herald

‘Well researched, beautifully written and immensely scholarly.’ Andrew Roberts, Sunday Times

L'autore:

Patrick French’s first book, Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer, won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Royal Society of Literature Heinemann Prize. For his second, Liberty or Death: India’s Journey to Independence and Division, he was named the 1998 Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year.
Patrick French is a director of Free Tibet campaign, and a former editor of Tibet News.