Escape to adventure

The author was a Scottish soldier, writer and politician. Issued in Britain under the title Eastern Approaches, this book is Maclean’s account of his experiences as a diplomat and military officer and his first years as a member of Parliament. It has been widely speculated that Ian Fleming used Maclean as one of his inspirations for James Bond. This is the classic true adventure story of a man who by the pen, the sword and the diplomatic pouch influenced some of the most significant events of our era. Here Fitzroy Maclean recounts his extraordinary adventures in Soviet Central Asia, in the Western Desert, where he specialized in hair-raising commando-style raids behind enemy lines, and with Tito’s partisans during the last months of the German occupation of Yugoslavia. An enthralling narrative, brilliantly told, it is also a vivid personal view of episodes that have already become part of history.