Book excerpt: Paul Robinson traces the fate of the tens of thousands of soldiers of the anti-Bolshevik White Armies who fled Russia at the end of the Russian civil war. Even as the troops dispersed throughout the world, they continued to think of themselves as soldiers, kept their organization intact and in some cases even continued their military training. This book provides the first detailed history of this remarkable phenomenon. It outlines the activities of the White Army in exile, including its underground struggles against the Soviet Union, the humanitarian aid it supplied to its members, the ideological debates in which it participated, and its efforts to collaborate with Germany in the Second World War. The story of the afterlife of one of the largest combat forces ever dispersed in this way is a fascinating one, and Robinson's account gives due attention to several of the remarkable individuals who were involved. He sheds new light on the history of the White Movement in general, as well as on the personal histories of those Russians caught up in the mass emigration of the interwar years.