To the Back of Beyond: An Illustrated Companion to Central Asia and Mongolia

by Fitzroy Maclean

British diplomat Fitzroy Maclean describes the mysterious lands of Central Asia during the 1930s at a time of great change. More a personal memoir than a history or travel book.

Genres: Travel, History, Nonfiction

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Major General Fitzroy Hew Royle Maclean, Bt, KT, CBE.

Graduate of Eton and subsequently King's College, University of Cambridge. Joined the Diplomatic Service in 1932. Posted to Paris from 1933-1937 and then the British Embassy to Moscow from 1937-1941.

Veteran of WWII. In 1941, he chose to enlist as a private in the Cameron Highlanders, but was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant the same year. He was one of the earliest members of the elite SAS. By the end of the war, had risen to the rank of Brigadier. Maclean wrote several books, including Eastern Approaches, in which he recounted three extraordinary series of adventures: traveling, often incognito, in Soviet Central Asia; fighting in the Western Desert Campaign (1941-1943), where he specialized in commando raids (with the Special Air Service Regiment) behind enemy lines; and living rough with Josip Broz Tito and his Yugoslav Partisans. It has been widely speculated that Ian Fleming used Maclean as one of his inspirations for James Bond.

Unionist Party (Scotland) member of Parliament (MP) from 1941-1974.

Awarded a baronetcy, becoming 1st Baronet, Maclean of Strachur and Glensluain. Invested a Knight of the Order of the Thistle (KT). Appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Recipient of the Croix de Guerre (France), the Order of Kutuzov (Soviet Union), the Order of the Partisan Star (Yugoslavia), and, posthumously, the Order of Prince Branimir (Croatia).

Reviews

[Banbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe this book should be rated only three stars, but it introduced me to so many historical events and people, in such a charming and breezy way, that it earned the fourth star--at least for me. Just one example: I had never heard of "The Mad Baron" before. He was a larger than life figure (but bringing lots of death), who led an irregular army in Outer Mongolia during the Russian Civil Wars, that, given the current inexplicable popular followings of cruel, stupid leaders, I feel compelled to learn more about him. To that end have ordered The Baron's Cloak by Willard Sunderland.

Otherwise, as the author specifically states:

This is neither a serious work of scholarship nor even a serious travel book. It simply represents the result of a certain amount of desultory reading and a good many years of equally desultory travel and photography in and around Central Asia.

I wish Maclean had included a bibliography of his desultory reading.