A Ride to Khiva

Interesting and fascinating insight into south central Asia during the 1800s while the UK and Russia were busy building empires. Barnaby, a soldier and adventurer made this particular journey while on leave from his duties. There was a feeling that the Russians were wanting to expand their borders and eventually invade India and wrest the continent from the British. If one is interested in history and the period, this book is worth reading.My only issue was with the disgraceful formatting for kindle which has resulted in split words and paragraphs in the air!

This is an exciting adventure book, writen in 1876 about the travels of a British Army Captain through Western Siberia into Khiva, a city in Central Asia recently taken by the Russian Empire. It purports to be just travel by an army man at liesure, and wanting to see parts of the world. Since we are in the "Great Game" era, when Britain and Russia were contending for the countries around India, I have the feeling that it was more than that, and that the author's mission was somewhat akin to "checking out the land" in the case of an impending conflict. Anyway, it's extremely well-written, and the descriptions of both the places and the people are first rate! The author obviously had a keen eye, and I would really love to read the report he actually submitted to his superiors in London when he returned. I'm sure it's still buried deeply in their secret files.

I read this book to my wife from my iPad just before going to sleep at night. It is a real page-turner.

A Ride to Khiva was written in the 1800's and is now a little dated, but does give an interesting insight into the views and feelings of Englishmen and Russians in relation to the question of whether Russia would venture south to India. It does give an excellent understanding of how difficult it was to travel in the 1800's and the hardships that had to be endured when travelling long distances.

Another great book about Central Asia, where rhe great game took place.

no plot

Adventure filled story with fascinating cultural and historical information.

Love books on Central Asia

A book which makes me understand its popularity 130 years or so ago. Great detail of the hardships of travel in a Russian winter; but also insight into the political stresses of the time, including Russian hopes of penetrating India, via Afghanistan, and stirring up, if not a new Indian Mutiny, at least a revolt against British rule. There were foolish expectations of a welcome by the Indian population, despite unconcealed the unconcealed intention of the Russians to primarily exploit India's wealth. The treatment of the Turkomans and the Khivans by the Russians, as related in this book, showed that, had such a logistically and militarily difficult operation actually been achieved by the Russians, the Indian population, both Hundoo and Muslim, would have been much, much worse off than they were under the British Raj. This is a wonderful book, and quite easy reading.

Entertaining early travel book.