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Title: The Great Game Ct'd
Review: A nice followup read to "The Great Game" (also by Hopkirk), this book details the efforts between the World Wars by the Soviet Union to spread Marxism to the east. Like The Great Game, there are dashing adventurers, wily spies, lunatics, and odd characters aplenty. There are some great individual stories, such as the British agent who the Soviets hired to find himself, and several crackpots with serious delusions of grandeur. What really emerges is how tenuous Moscow's hold was on its further-flung regions, as Bolsheviks, White Russians, and native people vied for control of these regions. Ultimately, the books is less cohesive and thus less satisfying than "The Great Game" (and about half the size!).
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