The Bloody Baron of Mongolia's bio is out

[FenrisUlf]

Just for those interested -- a biography of the Baron Ungern von Sternberg is currently out, titled The Bloody White Baron of Mongolia. He's a Pulp-era character who's always fascinated me, as much due to the occult weirdness* that surrounded him as to the sheer brutality of his actions. Has anyone read this book, and if so, can you give it any kind of a review?

[Badger]

Re: The Bloody Baron of Mongolia's bio is out

 

Yeah, I'd be interested myself.

[GhostDancer]

 

Thanks, I'll borrow it.

 

The bloody white baron : the extraordinary story of theRussian nobleman who became the last Khan of Mongolia

by 

 Palmer, James, 1978-

Publication Date 

 2009 2008

Library 

 Eastpointe Memorial Library St. Clair Shores Public Library

Format 

 

 

Excerpt: 

The bloody white baron : the extraordinary story of the Russian nobleman who became the last Khan

 

 

Also see Beasts, Men and Gods- 

A book dealing with the Mad Baron was well received- here is a 

review, followed by author information from wikipedia.

Once I picked it up, I did not put it down until it was finished..
Adventure, revolution, politics, spies, travel, eastern religions,
geology, survival are just a short list of items covered in this
compelling book. -Robert Ferguson, February 18, 2009

After Kolchak's defeat in 1920, Ossendowski joined a group of Poles
and White Russians trying to escape from communist-controlled Siberia
to India through Mongolia, China and Tibet. After a journey of several
thousand miles the group reached Chinese-controlled Mongolia, only to
be stopped there by the take-over of the country led by mysterious
Baron Roman Ungern von Sternberg. The Baron was a mystic who was
fascinated by the beliefs and religions of the Far East such as
Buddhism and Lamaism, and who believed himself to be a reincarnation
of Kangchendzönga, the Mongolian god of war. Ungern-Sternberg's
philosophy was an exceptionally muddled mixture of Russian nationalism
with Chinese and Mongol beliefs. However he also proved to be an
exceptional military commander and his forces grew rapidly.

Ossendowski joined the baron's army as a commanding officer of one of
the self-defense troops. He also briefly became Ungern von Sternberg's
political advisor and chief of intelligence. Little is known of his
service at the latter post, which adds to Ossendowski's legend as a
mysterious person. In late 1920 he was sent with a diplomatic mission
to Japan and then the USA, never to return to Mongolia. Some writers
believe that Ossendowski was one of the people who hid the
semi-mythical treasures of the Bloody Baron.

After his arrival to New York, Ossendowski started to work for the
Polish diplomatic service and possibly as a spy. At the same time, in
late 1921 he published his first English language book: Beasts, Men
and Gods. The novel, a description of his travels during the Russian
Civil War and the wars led by the Bloody Baron, became a striking
success and a best-seller. In 1923 it was translated into Polish and
then into several other languages.
 

[GhostDancer]

Read it twice now.  Gory.  Great for historical asides.  Cites Beasts, Men and Gods a lot, which is a better book for for most campaigns, more memorable, less factual.  

 

Beasts, Men and Gods can be read online free from several sources, such as https://archive.org/details/beastsmenandgod00ossegoog  , or borrowed from a library, likely in the stacks of a main branch.  Detroit allegedly has two- I borrowed one.

[AlHazred]

Ungern-Sternberg (as Charles Stross styles it) is an important background character in the Laundry universe (warning: TVTropes link -- prepare to waste a lot of time). Which, come to think of it, has lots of Lovecraftian elements, Noir elements...

 

Hmmm... A Pulp Hero Laundry-verse game...