Palmer, James

The Bloody White Baron

ISBN: 9780465014484
New York, NY: Basic Books, 2009. First American Edition. Hardcover. "In the history of the modern world, there have been few characters more sadistic, sinister, and deeply demented than Baron Ungern-Sternberg. An anti-Semitic fanatic with a penchant for Eastern mysticism and a hatred of communists, Ungern-Sternberg conquered Mongolia in 1919 with a ragtag force of White Russians, Siberians, Japanese, and native Mongolians. While tormenting friend & foe alike, he dreamed of assembling a horse-borne army to retake Moscow. His subjects believed him an incarnate god of war, destined to restore the greatness of the Mongolian empire." (from front flap) The horrifying, blood-soaked saga of Nikoli Robert Maximilian Freiherr von Ungern-Sternberg (1886-1921), "the extraordinary story of the Russian nobleman who became the last Khan of Mongolia" (subtitle). Author James Palmer, an acclaimed travel writer & historian, here provides a riveting account of Ungern-Sternberg's stranger-than-fiction life, which prefigured the Nazis in its toxic "combination of mysticism and genocidal violence" (front flap) & ended with his execution by the Red Army he so despised at the age of 35. With notes, bibliography & index. Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with "1/09" printed on rear flap), first American edition preceded the previous year (2008) by the first UK edition, first printing as indicated by number sequence on copyright page. Highly recommended by this writer who has read it with morbid relish, this is a biographical-historical collectible that sheds light (or should we say "darkness visible") on the Bloody White Baron & rescues his cautionary legacy amidst broader upheavals from near-forgotten obscurity. Book in very fine condition with only a touch of wear & fading to edges & corners of front, back covers & spine. Interior very fine with only one neat, medium-size crease at blank lower margin & corner of one page leaf (pgs. 95-96), otherwise substantially mint. Dust jacket very fine with only a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of front, back covers, spine & flaps. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #4978]

Price: $40.00