The Alluring Target: In Search of the Secrets of Central Asia

Daring expeditions on camel and yak; biplanes buffeted by gales in the Himalayas; shootouts with bandits as paleontologists race across the Mongolian steppes; lost cities beneath desert dunes, priceless art treasures and manuscripts along the ancient Silk Road - here are real-life adventures in the great uncharted "alluring target" of Central Asia at the dawn of the modern age.
Rescued from obscurity and profiled in compelling detail are eleven explorers, scientists, mystics, and just plain adventures - including two indomitable women - who journeyed through this forbidding region between 1890 and 1935 and brought back its secrets, its treasures, its knowledge, and, as vividly presented in The Alluring Target, fascinating accounts of their travels.

Kenneth Wimmel retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1991 after working abroad for 25 years. He served as Cultural Attaché in American Embassies in Taiwan, the Philippines, and Egypt, and in other diplomatic positions in New Delhi, Dhaka, Calcutta and Kuala Lumpur. He speaks Chinese and Vietnamese. His most recent books are William Woodville Rockhill: scholar diplomat of the Tibetan Highlands and Theodore Roosevelt and the Great White Fleet: American Sea Power Comes of Age. His friendship with Ella Maillart convinced her to write an introduction to The Alluring Target.