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Marching Sands
The story “Marching Sands ” is an all-time classic story. Robert Gray, ex-Army officer turned soldier of fortune, is hired by the American Exploration Society to find a fabled lost race called the Wusin. In a race against time, taking the path traveled by Marco Polo centuries before, Gray uncovers a plot to keep the Wusun hidden - a plot which if revealed would re-write the whole course of Eastern history forever!. This novel is a must read.
307 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1920
3 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Harold Lamb
134 books161 followersHarold Albert Lamb was an American historian, screenwriter, short story writer, and novelist.
Born in Alpine, New Jersey, he attended Columbia University, where his interest in the peoples and history of Asia began. Lamb built a career with his writing from an early age. He got his start in the pulp magazines, quickly moving to the prestigious Adventure magazine, his primary fiction outlet for nineteen years. In 1927 he wrote a biography of Genghis Khan, and following on its success turned more and more to the writing of non-fiction, penning numerous biographies and popular history books until his death in 1962. The success of Lamb's two volume history of the Crusades led to his discovery by Cecil B. DeMille, who employed Lamb as a technical advisor on a related movie, The Crusades, and used him as a screenwriter on many other DeMille movies thereafter. Lamb spoke French, Latin, Persian, and Arabic, and, by his own account, a smattering of Manchu-Tartar.
From Wikipedia
Born in Alpine, New Jersey, he attended Columbia University, where his interest in the peoples and history of Asia began. Lamb built a career with his writing from an early age. He got his start in the pulp magazines, quickly moving to the prestigious Adventure magazine, his primary fiction outlet for nineteen years. In 1927 he wrote a biography of Genghis Khan, and following on its success turned more and more to the writing of non-fiction, penning numerous biographies and popular history books until his death in 1962. The success of Lamb's two volume history of the Crusades led to his discovery by Cecil B. DeMille, who employed Lamb as a technical advisor on a related movie, The Crusades, and used him as a screenwriter on many other DeMille movies thereafter. Lamb spoke French, Latin, Persian, and Arabic, and, by his own account, a smattering of Manchu-Tartar.
From Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 15, 2021
I noticed this book in the recent additions section at Project Gutenberg the other day and thought I would add it to my list of books about or set in Mongolia, since the objective our adventurers are aiming for is the Gobi Desert.
I usually enjoy pulp fiction tales, but this one has defeated me after five chapters. Too much hinting of what will happen in the future and too kooky a reason for the whole expedition in the first place.
Scientists want to go find and rescue a group of legendary people known as Tall Ones. White people whose ancestors took over Asia in pre-historic times. If the scientists can prove these people exist, they hope to prove that Buddhism and all things Asian are inferior to Western culture.
Sigh.
No thanks.
DNF after five chapters.
I usually enjoy pulp fiction tales, but this one has defeated me after five chapters. Too much hinting of what will happen in the future and too kooky a reason for the whole expedition in the first place.
Scientists want to go find and rescue a group of legendary people known as Tall Ones. White people whose ancestors took over Asia in pre-historic times. If the scientists can prove these people exist, they hope to prove that Buddhism and all things Asian are inferior to Western culture.
Sigh.
No thanks.
DNF after five chapters.
August 24, 2020
A fun adventure yarn from the early 20th century, originally published in a pulp magazine in 1920. Lamb writes in a speedy, effortless style similar to that of Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard, although preferable to my mind. There's no padding or much meat here, just straight into an expedition into the Gobi desert to hunt for a lost Aryan race. Romance, gunplay, treachery, capture and escape follow, roughly in that order. Lamb brings a scholarly kind of research to his story, making the background as interesting as the foreground action, and the end result is deceptively simple yet offering a great deal of enjoyment.
December 27, 2022
You know how it is when you're paging through novels of yesteryear just because you're interested in the perception of writers from that time period of a particular point in history, and it's enlightening, but you cringe through the whole thing?
...
So credit where credit is due, Harold Lamb seems to have set out to write a potboiler action adventure book of no particular depth, and no pretentions of such, and he did absolutely succeed. It is a well put together, tightly constructed tale worthy of at least a made for TV movie.
But wow the tropes didn't age well.
And it does, in fact, have all the tropes. Maybe they weren't considered tropes when it was published in 1919. Maybe he originated some of the tropes. So in no particular order, here they are.
British/American rivalry on an archeological quest.
Beautiful niece, white, redhead, all delicate and pretty, but with a plucky attitude.
Grizzled gruff hero with a heart of gold.
Calling all Asians 'Mongols'.
Calling all Buddhists violent murderous cultists.
The sinister mustache of the Mongolian (actually Chinese) villain.
Ancient temple, with ancient city concealed inside it.
Tribe of white people stuck in Asia for generations who are still weirdly Christian.
Calling all Central Asians "Aryan."
Pondering over the minutiae of character's head shapes, in terms of how 'good' they are, that is, how they match White characteristics.
Musing on the nobility of Western missionaries in saving the 'mongols' from being brainwashed by their own culture and religion.
Duel with the noble savage over who gets to marry the girl. Girl gladly marries the white guy, even though she just met him two days ago.
A profound misunderstanding of Kyrghyz culture.
I don't know if that last one was a trope, but I used to live in Kyrgyzstan, and it drove me nuts.
That being said, the write did his research. When he threw in local flavor, in terms of food, language, climate, clothing, customs, etc., it matched pretty well with my own travels through the more obscure places in Central Asia and Mongolia, so... two stars, despite the general offensiveness of the whole thing.
...
So credit where credit is due, Harold Lamb seems to have set out to write a potboiler action adventure book of no particular depth, and no pretentions of such, and he did absolutely succeed. It is a well put together, tightly constructed tale worthy of at least a made for TV movie.
But wow the tropes didn't age well.
And it does, in fact, have all the tropes. Maybe they weren't considered tropes when it was published in 1919. Maybe he originated some of the tropes. So in no particular order, here they are.
British/American rivalry on an archeological quest.
Beautiful niece, white, redhead, all delicate and pretty, but with a plucky attitude.
Grizzled gruff hero with a heart of gold.
Calling all Asians 'Mongols'.
Calling all Buddhists violent murderous cultists.
The sinister mustache of the Mongolian (actually Chinese) villain.
Ancient temple, with ancient city concealed inside it.
Tribe of white people stuck in Asia for generations who are still weirdly Christian.
Calling all Central Asians "Aryan."
Pondering over the minutiae of character's head shapes, in terms of how 'good' they are, that is, how they match White characteristics.
Musing on the nobility of Western missionaries in saving the 'mongols' from being brainwashed by their own culture and religion.
Duel with the noble savage over who gets to marry the girl. Girl gladly marries the white guy, even though she just met him two days ago.
A profound misunderstanding of Kyrghyz culture.
I don't know if that last one was a trope, but I used to live in Kyrgyzstan, and it drove me nuts.
That being said, the write did his research. When he threw in local flavor, in terms of food, language, climate, clothing, customs, etc., it matched pretty well with my own travels through the more obscure places in Central Asia and Mongolia, so... two stars, despite the general offensiveness of the whole thing.
October 27, 2025
Solid 1920 ripping yarn , racist from end to end.
The solid ex-military hero treking to find a lost city of white men in the Gobi desert (against the resistance of the evil Chinese) is fairly stock; he can beat any four Asians in a fist fight as a matter of course, and does so. The untrustworthy middle-eastern assistant, and fair-haired love interest, were also regulation, but the homicidal knife-wielding Buddhist priests at every turn were a bit of a surprise.
Lamb knew a lot about the region, so it's a weird mix of well-researched local detail and bizarre racist tropes, along with people solemnly saying "It is written", kidnapping the love interest and otherwise playing true to type.
The solid ex-military hero treking to find a lost city of white men in the Gobi desert (against the resistance of the evil Chinese) is fairly stock; he can beat any four Asians in a fist fight as a matter of course, and does so. The untrustworthy middle-eastern assistant, and fair-haired love interest, were also regulation, but the homicidal knife-wielding Buddhist priests at every turn were a bit of a surprise.
Lamb knew a lot about the region, so it's a weird mix of well-researched local detail and bizarre racist tropes, along with people solemnly saying "It is written", kidnapping the love interest and otherwise playing true to type.
June 20, 2020
Harold lamb one of my favorite writers wrote many beautiful books such as warriors of the steppes, swords of the east, and many more, describe interesting people and their tradition full of suspense and difficult situation that the hero gets out of it.
in this book, he describes an American who was sent to discover in Gobi desert the remnant of people who were called "the tall men"
He had a completion with a British expedition, that is killed by the Chinese and the sole survivor is a woman that the American fell and love with her, and there are many dangerous situations.
in this book, he describes an American who was sent to discover in Gobi desert the remnant of people who were called "the tall men"
He had a completion with a British expedition, that is killed by the Chinese and the sole survivor is a woman that the American fell and love with her, and there are many dangerous situations.
December 17, 2024
Captain Harold Gray sets out to the Gobi Desert to verify the existence of a lost Aryan race, while the Chinese (and others) try to foil him. A worthy product of a 1920s pulp magazine, but very dated now. The religious and racial chauvinism, in particular, is cringeworthy. The copy I read is packaged as science fiction, but the story is not. The lost tribe motif is the only part that is vaguely fantastic; the rest is fights with guns, knives, fists, and wits, involving rulers, enforcers, rivals, a horse thief, and a love interest.
May 13, 2018
Classic boys adventure story. Worth reading only as a flashback to simpler times when all you asked from your books was a rousing adventure.
May 3, 2024
Excellent fiction inspired by a historical reality.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews