"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.
"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.
Reviews-
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Starred review from December 21, 2015
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. -
January 1, 2016
In this sweeping and thought-provoking world history, Frankopan (history, Oxford Univ.; The First Crusade) shows that although the intertwined nature of the global economy seems unique to today, nations and markets have been connected since antiquity. The East, especially the Fertile Crescent area stretching from the Nile to the Persian Gulf, is time and again pivotal in making and breaking empires, civilizations, religions, and cultures. Networks of trade routes called Silk Roads have carried not only valuables such as spices, silk, gems, porcelain, and oil, but also slavery, terror, disease, and other misery through the ages. Frankopan relates stories of kings, emperors, marauders, and explorers, and also describes the effect of technological advances on warfare, use of natural resources, trade and daily life over millennia. Meticulous documentation ranges from first-person accounts to high-tech analysis of archaeological finds. The routes discussed in various chapters are illustrated by helpful maps. VERDICT Even though Frankopan's interpretation of history may raise some eyebrows, his vivid imagery will engage and inform readers looking for historical underpinnings of long-festering conflicts among nations, cultures, and religions. [See Prepub Alert, 8/31/15.]--Laurie Unger Skinner, Coll. of Lake Cty., Waukegan, IL
Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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October 1, 2015
The flourishing of empires in China, Persia, and Rome. The forward march of Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. The meeting of East and West, with the crash-through of Western imperialism. The two world wars. All are tied to the Silk Roads, as clarified by Oxford historian Frankopan (The First Crusade: The Call from the East). Billed as a landmark and clearly a book with scope.
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
- William Dalrymple, The Guardian "Peter Frankopan... [is a] brilliant and fearlessly wide-ranging young Oxford historian... Frankopan marches briskly through the centuries, disguising his erudition with an enviable lightness of touch, enlivening his narrative with a beautifully constructed web of anecdotes and insights, backed up by an impressively wide-ranging scholarly apparatus of footnotes drawing on works in multiple languages... This is history on a grand scale, with a sweep and ambition that is rare... A remarkable book on many levels, a proper historical epic of dazzling range and achievement."
- Philip Seib, The Dallas Morning News "Superb... Peter Frankopan is an exceptional storyteller... The lands of the Silk Roads are of renewed importance, and Frankopan's book will be indispensable to anyone who wants to make sense of this union of past and present."
- Dan Jones, Evening Standard (U.K.) "Dazzlingly good ... [Frankopan blends] deep scholarly skill with a real literary talent"
- Kirkus (starred review) "A sweeping, fascinating chronicle of world history focused on trade--in silk, spices, furs, gold, silver, slaves, and religion--in a vast region from the Mediterranean's eastern shores to the Himalayas... Frankopan weaves together his many narrative strands with verve and impressive scholarship. A vastly rich historical tapestry that puts ongoing struggles in a new perspective."
- Felipe Fernández Armesto, Literary Review (U.K.) "The author's gift for vividness is reminiscent of Jan Morris, while his command of revealing facts or fancies is not far short of Gibbon's."
- Averil Cameron, History Today "Beautifully constructed, a terrific and exhilarating read and a new perspective on world history."
- The Economist "This is, to put it mildly, an ambitious book... By spinning all these stories into a single thread, Peter Frankopan attempts something bold: A history of the world that shunts the centre of gravity eastward... Mr. Frankopan writes with clarity and memorable detail... Where other histories put the Mediterranean at the centre of the story, under Mr. Frankopan it is important as the western end of a transcontinental trade with Asia in silks, spices, slaves--and ideas."
- Robert Irwin, The Independent (U.K) "The Silk Roads, which covers several continents and many centuries, is based on astonishingly wide and deep reading and in all areas draws on the latest research... It is full of vivid and recondite details."
- Bettany Hughes, The Daily Telegraph (U.K) "Why are we driven, physically, intellectually and emotionally, to reach out beyond the horizon toward the unknown; to explore, connect and communicate? That query motivate Peter Frankopan's splendid study... Throughout he relies on economic analysis...Recognizing that the fringes of the cloth are as interesting as its fabric, Frankopan also spins off on to the threads of social history...Underlying the tightly researched history is a grander human truth. As a species, we are motivated by stories... This invigorating and profound book has enough storytelling to excite the reader and enough fresh scholarship to satisfy the intellect... Charismatic and essential."
- Country Life (U.K.) "Timely... It deserves a place by the library fireplace."
- Justin Marozzi, The Sunday Times (U.K.) "It's time we recognized the importance of the East to our history, insists this magnificent study... The breadth and ambition of this swashbuckling history by Peter Frankopan should come as no surprise... A book that roves as widely as the geography it describes, encompassing worlds as far removed as those of Herodotus and Saddam Hussein, Hammurabi and Hitler... It is a tribute to Frankopan's scholarship and mastery of sources in multiple languages that he is as sure-footed on the ancient world as he is on the medieval and modern... Deftly constructed... The Silk Roads is a powerful corrective to parochialism."
- Matthew Price, The National (AE) "An exhilarating tour of 2,000 years of history... There is plenty of bang for your buck as you journey through The Silk Roads. Frankopan upends the usual world-history narrative oriented around ancient Rome and Greece and the irrepressible rise of Europe... In a series of brisk chapters--The Road of Faiths, The Road of Furs and so on--studded with state-of-the-art research that is sourced from at least a dozen languages, th
