TheSilk Roads

World history on a grand scale, in the vein of William Dalrymple, Andrew Roberts, Simon Schama, Michael Burleigh and Simon Sebag MontefioreA history with the ambition and scope of Gibbon and Macaulay and a historian to watch for the futureA fascinating account of the forces and events that have shaped the global economy, and that have sent the wealth that once went west along the silk road towards the eastThe break out history release of the year, selling over 20,000 copies TCMA Book of the Week for The Times; a Book of the Year pick in the Observer, Guardian, Sunday Times and the Times Literary Supplement; the History Book of the Year for the Daily Telegraph; and a Non-Fiction Book of the Year for Daunt BooksPeter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University, where he is also Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford and Director of the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research. He took a First in History and was Schiff Scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge, before completing his doctorate at Oxford, where he was Senior Scholar at Corpus Christi College. He has lectured at leading universities all over the world, including Cambridge, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, NYU, King's College London and the Institute of Historical Research. His revised translation of The Alexiad by Anna Komnene was published in 2009 and The First Crusade was published in 2012.'Many books have been written which claim to be "A New History of the World". This one fully deserves the title.It is difficult, in a short review, to do justice to a book so ambitious, so detailed and so fascinating as this one' The Times The No. 1 Sunday Times and international bestseller - a major reassessment of world history in light of the economic and political renaissance in the re-emerging east. A Sunday Times Book of the Decade For centuries, fame and fortune were to be found in the west - in the New World of the Americas. Today, it is the east which calls out to those in search of riches and adventure. Sweeping right across Central Asia and deep into China and India, a region that once took centre stage is again rising to dominate global politics, commerce and culture. A major reassessment of world history, The Silk Roads is a dazzling exploration of the forces that have driven the rise and fall of empires, determined the flow of ideas and goods and are now heralding a new dawn in international affairs.The No. 1 Sunday Times and international bestseller - a major reassessment of world history in light of the economic and political renaissance in the re-emerging east The axis of history writing seemed to shift east with Frankopan's sweeping history, which placed the Silk Road at the very centre of world eventsMany books have been written which claim to be "A New History of the World". This one fully deserves the title.It is difficult, in a short review, to do justice to a book so ambitious, so detailed and so fascinating as this oneA 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 modernMy book of the year: history on a grand scale, with a sweep of ambition that is rare ... A remarkable book on many levels, and one that anyone would have been proud to write: a proper historical epic of dazzling range, ambition and achievementThe most illuminating book of the year ... A healthy antidote to Eurocentric accounts of historySplendid ... tightly researched ... invigorating and profound with enough storytelling to excite the reader and enough fresh scholarship to satisfy the intellect...charismatic and essentialA rare book that makes you question your assumptions about the worldDazzlingly goodBased on astonishingly wide and deep reading and in all areas draws on the latest research... It is full of vivid and recondite detailsFull of intriguing insights and fascinating detailsWith extraordinary erudition and a vivid style, he takes us on a dazzling tour of these parts from the rise of the first empires right through to the presentBeautifully constructed, a terrific and exhilarating read and a new perspective on world historyAs well-written, entertaining, disturbing and exciting as a detective storyA dazzling piece of historical writingThis book lives up to its claim to be a new history of the world because of its geopolitical paradigm shift . He is a Herodotus of the twenty first centuryMonumental.prodigious.astonishing. Frankopan is an exhilarating companion for the journey along the routes which conveyed silk, slaves, ideas, religion, and disease, and around which today may hang the destiny of the worldAn exceptional storyteller . Frankopan does a superb job of explaining the history that has led to this modern era of new Silk Roads running across "the spine of Asia."... Frankopan's book will be indispensable to anyone who wants to make sense of this union of past and presentSumptuous, intriguing and surprising'A big book like this would have taken the whole year to read if I had followed up every reference that piqued my interest'