Īrān dar Bāzī-yi Buzurg: Persiska (Farsi) 1402

Percy Sykes was sent by Army Intelligence in the 1890s, first as an explorer and spy, then to open consulates along Persia's eastern borders. His job was to deter Russian expansion towards India. In his time, Sir Percy Sykes was a legend of unpaid, he rode through thousands of miles of the harshest desert, marsh, and mountain, often with his indomitable sister. He did whatever he felt necessary to protect his country when consul at Meshed during a very turbulent time, he bugged the Russian consulate and, armed only with diplomacy, single-handedly faced down a Russian attempt to annex north-east Persia. But Sykes was not the typical servant of the empire. He hunted gazelle with princes, read Persian poetry, sat at the feet of dervish masters, and got to the heart of the country. Persia in the Great Game explores Sykes’ 25 years in Persia with humor and domestic detail, to give an insight that is instructive today. Praise for Persia in the Great is a vivid reminder of the extraordinary lives and times of those who once played the Great Game. Percy Sykes was one of the ablest, if most controversial, of these. A valuable addition to Great Game literature’ - Peter Hopkirk ‘Very entertaining biography of an extraordinary character’ - Goodreads Antony Wynn read Persian and Turkish at Balliol College, Oxford, and has spent many years working in and around Persia. As well as writing books, he is a reviewer, columnist, and lecturer.