An extraordinary man, who advanced human knowledge on many fronts, Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943) pursued dramatic adventure with scientific purpose. Jeannette Mirsky has drawn from Stein’s voluminous outpouring of books and articles as well as from his letters and unpublished archival materials to produce a lively and definitive biography of this archaeological explorer, geographer, historical topographer, and linguist.

"[Mirsky] has digested the correspondence, and she quotes so skillfully that her book will save many people the trouble of reading Stein’s own exhaustive and exhausting volumes. Definitive."—Larry McMurtry, Washington Post

"A first-rate and unique biography of one of the more significant explorers of Central Asia and the Indo-Iranian borderlands. . . . Mirsky has recreated not only the life of an intrepid explorer but the spirit of the times."—Choice

"Mirsky has performed a signal service in distilling the life, travels, and letters of Aurel Stein into a manageable, graceful, and meaningful synthesis."—Theodore A. Wertime, Technology and Culture