The Silk Roads
A New History of the World
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4.1 • 168 Ratings
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • Far more than a history of the Silk Roads, this book is truly a revelatory new history of the world, promising to destabilize notions of where we come from and where we are headed next.
"A rare book that makes you question your assumptions about the world.” —The Wall Street Journal
From the Middle East and its political instability to China and its economic rise, the vast region stretching eastward from the Balkans across the steppe and South Asia has been thrust into the global spotlight in recent years. Frankopan teaches us that to understand what is at stake for the cities and nations built on these intricate trade routes, we must first understand their astounding pasts.
Frankopan realigns our understanding of the world, pointing us eastward. It was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures and religions. From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the twentieth century—this book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East.
Also available: The New Silk Roads, a timely exploration of the dramatic and profound changes our world is undergoing right now—as seen from the perspective of the rising powers of the East.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Upending the traditional narrative of Western enlightenment and world domination as the inevitable descendants of Greek and Roman intellectual ferment, Oxford historian Frankopan (The First Crusade) places the silk roads the long, remote Central Asian trading routes linking Europe and China at the center of human history. The silk roads served as conduits for goods and ideas as well as plagues and marauding armies, and their location at the nexus of Europe and Asia continues to drive world events today. Frankopan casts his net widely in this work of dizzying breadth and ambition. Casual readers may struggle to follow all the threads; those opening to any page will find fascinating insights that illuminate elusive connections across time and place. Frankopan's thoughts on Islam, for instance, begin with newly discovered "wisps of text" that are reshaping understanding of Muhammad's life and stretch across centuries to the modern luxuries of the "oil-soaked" Middle East. The Black Plague carried west by the Mongols devastated Europe and the Middle East, but "the plague turned out to be the catalyst for social and economic change that was so profound that far from marking the death of Europe, it served as its making." Frankopan approaches his craft with an acerbic wit, and his epochal perspective throws the foibles of the modern age into sharp relief.
Customer Reviews
It's a huge big block of History
If you wonder why we hate History lesson when we were young it was because it was incomplete or not fully explained. Nevertheless i found a few chapter at the end of the book to be a little bit too hard to digest. You tell me.
Title misrepresents content
First off, the content itself is a great read. But it title of the book and the chapters is beyond ‘borderline cultural appropriation’. A title “Global Trade from a Western Perspective” would make this a 4- or 5-star review. In a nearly 30-chapter book, there should be multiple chapters on China and their relationship with tribal confederations, like the Xiongnu, Monguls, etc. But there are none, only passing paragraphs. Commentary on Central Asia is minimal beyond a Western view of that regional development. Additionally, the last third of the book (or more) is post-Industrial Revolution. This should not be the case and is flat out wrong.
The world as it was and will be
This brilliant trace of world history along the silk roads should be required reading for everyone. So much is unknown by so many. This book reveals much of what we all should know about how the world came to be what it is and what it will likely become.