With a subtitle like “blood and oil” this book has the potential to be a leftist screed – and the presence of big oil and US coddling of tyrants provides ample material. But it’s not. It’s a clear-eyed survey of Central Asia, with some analysis of the geopolitics but mostly disquieting reportage on how the region is both increasingly volatile and increasingly crucial to the world.

The characters – oil men, diplomats, politicians – are fascinating and larger than life. So are the out-of-control politics of the region, driven by oil, Islam and the struggle for influence now being waged there by Russia, China and the United States. Now rich in energy, Central Asia clearly has the potential to become another Middle East, rich in dysfunction and violence. (See our editorial on the subject.) Lutz Kleveman’s book makes for alarming reading.