‘A time when Russia’s movements in the East are being watched by all with such keen interest seems a fitting one for the appearance of a work dealing with her Central Asian possessions’ (from the original Introduction). Originally published in 1899, The Heart of Asia is a definitive history of Central Asia from pre-history to the contemporary machinations of the Russian empire. The book is valuable not only because of the quality of the historical work on the early period, but also because of the unique picture that it gives of contemporary views on the potential for Anglo-Russian conflict, at a time when the Russian Empire was Britain’s closest rival for Asian hegemony. Scholars of modern Russia and Central Asia will find much that echoes, and indeed drives, more recent events. Includes 34 illustrations and two maps.