“Murray’s book is a terrific read” – Peter Oborne –
Signed First Editions are now available direct from this blog! You can leave a message naming the dedication you want. Sold at cover price of £25 including p&p for UK delivery or £29 for overseas delivery. Ideal Christmas presents!!
‘Murray’s book is a terrific read. He has done full justice to the life of a remarkable British hero, without ignoring his faults’ — Peter Oborne, Daily Mail
‘An important re-evaluation of this most intriguing figure’ — William Dalrymple
‘This is a fascinating book … his research has been prodigious, both in libraries and on foot. He knows a huge amount about Burnes’s life and work’ —Allan Massie, The Scotsman
‘If you are a fan of the Flashman series of books, you will be gripped by the story of this British spy’ —Hannah Ferret, The Sun
For further information about the book and more buying choices please read Why I Need Alexander Burnes, and You Do Too
Buy from Amazon
As I’m unemployed and unbearably skint, I can’t afford Sikunder Burnes right now, but I was inspired to pick a copy of Murder in Samarkand out of the library a couple of days ago – just a few pages left to go. I would have finished it, but honestly it’s been a while since a book has had this much emotional impact and I have to keep taking breaks. Brilliantly written but not the most pleasant subject matter.
Thanks for bringing light to dark corners that the establishment would prefer we never saw and I promise that Sikunder Burnes will be my first gift to myself if my job interview is successful next Thursday.
Good luck. J
Got my signed copy! thank you so much, I have had a smile on my face since i cracked it open.
I found it rather amusing that after a few pages, I realised i was reading it with your voice (in my head, not out loud, that would have been mental). I think I will continue to do so. Isn’t it funny how you can perfectly recreate someones voice in your head?
I ordered a copy from Nairn Bookshop in the last week of October. It arrived there on Tuesday, I collected it yesterday and 50 pages into I am loving the way you’ve written it.
Me and my dog Domino are attending the protest march at New Haven’s Green this afternoon against presidential usurper Donald Trump.
Hope you go to one too.
I have tracked down two copies in two London stores. Locations might suggest that the shop buyer has carefully considered both liberal and old school elites.
Hope I’m not busting your bubble, Craig, but just learned that my three books went through many editions, and are in the libraries of many institutions of higher learning worldwide, though i never made anything of any significance from them.
Guess Barry was trying to minimize his serious losses.
Still am going to buy your latest here.
Hope that some purchaser writes a serious, detailed review
Will do so myself, in due course, if no one does.
Two good reviews now on Amazon. The price of the book there is now £22.50. Wasn’t it £25?
Alexander the … By Philip Challinor on 11 Nov. 2016
Format: Hardcover
Alexander Burnes – soldier, diplomat, explorer, archaeologist, adventurer, Freemason and unusually enlightened agent of the British Empire – did more in his thirty-six years on earth than most people could hope to write about; and he was a descendant of Robert Burns, so he wrote about it too. Himself a former diplomat with experience of Central Asia and a training in history, Craig Murray has written an engrossing book, which attempts to repair the reputation of a man who advised the East India Company against some of its more costly blunders and brutalities, and was then made a scapegoat for the consequences of his advice being ignored. Some of the minor participants in Burnes’ crowded life are identified by name only, which makes for slight confusion at times; presumably their details fell victim to the 80,000 words of cuts Murray had to make before the publisher accepted the book. But the case for Burnes is strongly made, without ignoring his own errors; and the parallels of his tragedy with more recent British idiocies in the region is clearly noted. Even when the narrative falls prey to the untidiness of real life, the writing is clear and concise, and includes several splendid one-liners.
First class read By David Turner on 6 Nov. 2016
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
First class book, if you have any interest in the area and the Great Game, this book certainly stands up their will all the other great game books, including the famous “Great Game”.
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Philip Challinor, himself a prodigious author, has a nicely incisive blog I notice.
http://thecurmudgeonly.blogspot.co.uk/
I am not talking about good review,
I want really informative ones rather than just rehashes of other good reviews.
My comment was general and was not a reply to your previous comment.
Just purchased this book and early bird tickets for ‘Doune the Rabbit Hole’ – so hopefully I’ll be able to get you a large malt in the beer tent next August. Slainte
Brilliant – a double whammy!
Son of Montrose provost grew up to be Victorian James Bond
11 November 2016
The son of a Montrose Provost, who grew up to become a Victorian James Bond, is the topic of a new biography published by a former rector of Dundee University. The life of Captain Sir Alexander Burnes has been revealed in a book by Craig Murray, who is the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan as well as a rector of the Tayside university from 2007 to 2010.
Murray’s book is the first biography of this intriguing son of Montrose, who was a British intelligence officer in India and Afghanistan in the 1820s and 30s.
/..
http://www.montrosereview.co.uk/news/local-headlines/son-of-montrose-provost-grew-up-to-be-victorian-james-bond-1-4284442
http://www.montrosereview.co.uk/news/local-headlines/son-of-montrose-provost-grew-up-to-be-victorian-james-bond-1-4284442
I’ve tried several times to buy using the Pay Now function. All I get is an error message. I’d like to buy two signed copies, please.
Can you say what the error message is?
You can use the Contact button at the top of the blog to contact Craig direct to arrange alternative methods of payment.. I would also suggest you try disabling (if you use them) things like noscript and ad-blockers in case they are interfering. Also often just opening a private browsing session tab (then order) will get round these sort of problems.