Sir Aurel Stein: Archaeological Explorer

Jeanette Mirsky, formerly affiliated with the USIS and Princeton University, has written a biography of Sir Aurel Stein that is sure to appeal to scholars interested by the life of this most fascinating explorer. In order to write her book, Mirsky went to significant lengths to find and read Stein's correspondence with his relatives and friends, and then, in then when she wrote the book, chose to quote very liberally from his letters, to such an extent that this book is not as much a biography as snippets of his letters interspersed with a running commentary that is a biography. Stein was an extremely fascinating explorer: as a philologist and explorer he had few peers. Unfortunately men of his caliber are no longer made nowadays in our age of MTV and plane trips to China; for scholars who want to read the primary sources, or rather abridged parts of his translated letters, this book will truly be invaluable. But the very complexity and sophistication of Ms. Mirsky's book mean that it is not the sort of book you would want to give to your teen to get him or her interested in Central Asian history.

As the editorial reviewer stated, this is indeed a first rate biography. It only lacks good map which is something hard to understand considering the subject. However, don't let this put you off; find an atlas with a map of central Asia and enjoy.