Peter Hopkirk’s “Setting the East Ablaze” tells the narrative history, in thrilling style, of the inter-war struggle for influence in Central Asia as Lenin attempted to spread the Bolshevik cause to India. This continuation of the ‘Great Game’ - this time with a Marxist, not Tzarist, Russia - pitted British spies, Chinese warlords, revolutionaries, zealots and vengeful White Russian émigrés in a clandestine war from Russia to India. An incredible tale, told by an expert, of intrigue and treachery, barbarism and civil war, whose violent repercussions continue to be felt in Central Asia today.Peter Hopkirk is a veteran journalist and is widely recognized as an authority on the complex history of Central Asia. This is one of several books he has written on the region.