This excellently researched first book deserves a serious place in historical literature. Baron Ungern-Stenberg, a Baltic aristocrat, was violent, headstrong and mad, but with enormous charisma. With a rabble of cavalrymen and White Russian fugitives, he conquered Mongolia with terrible consequences. Driven by esoteric beliefs, rabid anti-Semitism and violent obsessions, he foreshadowed the Nazis in his terrible mix of mysticism and genocide. A true depiction of a little-known region, lawless and isolated, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. (Kathie)
(Kathie Somerwil Ayrton - bwl 53 September 2009 ) |
