The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars | 8,996 ratings

Price: 25.59

Last update: 01-11-2025


About this item

“This is history on a grand scale, with a sweep and ambition that is rare... A proper historical epic of dazzling range and achievement.” (William Dalrymple, The Guardian)

The epic history of the crossroads of the world - the meeting place of East and West and the birthplace of civilization

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 20th century - this book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East.

Peter Frankopan realigns our understanding of the world, pointing us eastward. He vividly re-creates the emergence of the first cities in Mesopotamia and the birth of empires in Persia, Rome, and Constantinople, as well as the depredations by the Mongols, the transmission of the Black Death, and the violent struggles over Western imperialism. Throughout the millennia, it was the appetite for foreign goods that brought East and West together, driving economies and the growth of nations.

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. 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.


Top reviews from the United States

kyounghwa esther sung
5.0 out of 5 stars Reading this book is the simple way to take a few stride forward to the reality of how the world works.
Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2017
THE SILK ROADS by Peter Frankopan
A New History Of The World

It's true to say that history is a story told by the winner. It's all very well to get a big head and wield a sword as a now victor; but it's of pivotal importance to remember that forces on the other side or on the periphery would be flexing their muscles, on the alert for a chance to settle scores.

Peter Frankopan, a historian based at Oxford University and the author of THE SILK ROADS, has a prodigiously profound insight on historical events and is an extraordinarily hard-working researcher which we know from 100 pages of notes and bibliography accompanying 507 pages of text. This book is something none other than Peter himself couldn't have written. He pulled multiple strands together in this single great work. An epic story indeed! Incredibly informative and compellingly attractive. This ambitious book spans centries, continents and cultures. It shows a historical tapestry woven with his epochal perspective: how cultures, slaves, products, natural resources, religions and ways of life have been traded for over two thousand years; how the center of powers has changed so far and which it's heading into.

This book takes the form of a series of what marked milestones in global history chronologically arranged from ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia to the Crusades to the post ww2 era to the recent consideration of Turkey joining the SCO not the EU to the present when half-a-mile-long trains carrying millions of products from China to Germany in just sixteen days and vice versa. It of course includes factual accounts of events with the additional explanations on the causality between some nitty-gritty issues. But what the author is really willing to give is a warning against solving today's problems without worrying tomorrow's. THE SILK ROADS enables us all who read it to see a broad region that had been or is in turmoil. It reveals the dangers of the lack of perspective about global history. Great turning points in human history, I've learned from this book, have been bound together by, against the backdrop of, many big and small talks and decisions which occurred in the barren steppes, in conference rooms, on the phone and sometimes in a prison cell.

I owe much to Peter Frankopan. My knowledge of the world history was admittedly sparse. When it comes to history related literature, I, as a person who had no interest in the stuff of global history, have only read several books focusing on a narrow subject matter over shortening timeframesㅡUNBROKEN, ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, DEAD WAKE, just to name a few. Now, after reading this book from beginning to end, highlighting and underlining sentences, making notes in the margins, I feel my heart ten times more fluttering than when I first saw the jacket image of an incredibly beautiful decorative ceiling of a certain madrasah in Uzbekistan. There is a greater quiver of excitement now in my mind than there was just after reading 7-page preface which made me all aflutter in anticipation of the following text.

The bottom line: go online with your smart phone to do a search for THE SILK ROADS by Peter Frankopan, add it to cart and proceed to checkout! Some time later you would take a few stride forward to the reality of how the world works.
Avid Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for anyone interested in why the world seems to be getting progressively divided
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2016
I don’t know how you enjoy reading your books, but unlike the page-turners that can’t be put down, if a book grabs my attention, I tend to slow down my pace to absorb as much as possible of the full meaning that the author intends to impart.

At 10% this book had me hooked. The realisation of how our present way of life is just a continuation of societal systems, laws and principles that were devised, implemented and set down centuries ago was a real eye opener.
I am now at around 60% and continue to be enthralled at how heavily the historical background impacts on almost every important current event and crisis that we encounter today and how different the impressions and mental pictures that emerge from the book are to those portrayed and imparted by our media.

If you are interested in why the world is what it is today, you cannot get a better more interesting precis of what events caused us to reach the state of current global development and you will better understand (but not justify) the unrest in which we live.

Staring from Roman days BC, the first 16 chapters (aprox 40% of the book) take you on an evolutionary trip through the major events, century by century, giving a foundation on how and why events of exploitation and slavery evolved as they did.
From Chapter 17 the author brings you into the 20th Century and shows how major political self-serving manipulations and greed have resulted in the unavoidable conflicts of wars and aggression throughout the history of the East and the West.

The reader cannot help but link the global terrorist activities and the peaceful invasion of Europe that we are witnessing to a resurgence of tactics and methods used throughout history to justify reaction against perceived sins that the West committed or imposed on weaker nations, which they "colonised" then simply took (or stole) their mineral, human and oil resources with no regard to the consequences on the local population and with little respect, pay-back or recompense (other than selective and ridiculous bribing of officials) to the masses of humans that they exploited, betrayed and decimated over centuries.

From the outset, the author explains why he elected to use the historical names of the people and places he describes and this becomes distracting to the reader who eventually loses track of exactly who or where the event occurs because (except for a few cases) he does not give the up-to-date name of the location or person, despite his giving the actual source references on which he bases his commentary. However, as the text gives the general location and position of an individual, readers can ignore the foreign nomenclatures and read on. This does not detracted from the text and information imparted.

The writing style flows well and is easy to read and follow. I’m looking forward to the remainder of this enjoyable journey.
Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars An insightful read
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2024
I appreciate the new perspective on history from a different hemisphere. It was an engaging and thought provoking read that was worth the time.

Best Sellers in

 
 

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 16057
17.72
 
 

Learn Spanish While You Sleep & Learn Spanish While Driving in Your Car: Over 50 Hours of Learning Spanish Lessons from Begin

3.5 3.5 out of 5 stars 5
26.21
 
 

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 24731
17.72
 
 

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 74658
18.9
 
 

You Are My Sunshine: A Story of Love, Promises, and a Really Long Bike Ride

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 437
17.32
 
 

We Are Experiencing a Slight Delay: (tips, tales, travels)

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 394
21.25
 
 

Never Leave the Dogs Behind: A Memoir

4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 367
22.04
 
 

The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 19182
19.69