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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Fantastic overview of the silk roads, but there was an odd time skip (it seemed to me) over the 1800’s.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
Overall interesting, but bits of it dragged and it got a bit bogged down in detail at the end.
Thoroughly enjoyable book. The author appeared to stretch the concept to keep the Silk Road relevant in the chapters relating to the “new world” and World War 2, such that I found myself wondering when we would get back to the main character. The book is aged in the final two chapters, especially when discussing China’s actions in Xinjiang. Overall, worth a read and a nice overview of the region.
challenging
dark
informative
This was a struggle to read. There is little or no focus; the idea that the author will recenter history to focus on a different region doesn't actually happen, and the "region" he attempts to use, occasionally, when the mood suits him, is so vast and poorly defined that even if he had managed to focus on it, it would have been meaningless.
Further, unless you have a good grasp of history already, the book will leave all sorts of gaps and elide all kinds of information. The Suez Canal, which when built was transformative to empire and to trade and shifted the world, doesn't get mentioned until decades on in its history, already present. Russia's gradual expansion into Central Asia (part of the focus of the book, Central Asia, supposedly) is handled by saying that Russia gradually expanded into Central Asia. How? Either just an advance (somehow) or diplomacy (okay, sure, but details? No? All right.) The "new focus away from Europe" results in nothing more than the same old Great Game of the East; we're still hearing about Russia and Britain competing over India's hinterlands, about Germany stirring the pot.
This is nothing new, disguised as something new.
I would be giving it 1 star, but the author writes well, and when he's on point, it's pretty good. He's not on point often enough, though, and the entire premise is faulty, so I go only as far as 2.
Further, unless you have a good grasp of history already, the book will leave all sorts of gaps and elide all kinds of information. The Suez Canal, which when built was transformative to empire and to trade and shifted the world, doesn't get mentioned until decades on in its history, already present. Russia's gradual expansion into Central Asia (part of the focus of the book, Central Asia, supposedly) is handled by saying that Russia gradually expanded into Central Asia. How? Either just an advance (somehow) or diplomacy (okay, sure, but details? No? All right.) The "new focus away from Europe" results in nothing more than the same old Great Game of the East; we're still hearing about Russia and Britain competing over India's hinterlands, about Germany stirring the pot.
This is nothing new, disguised as something new.
I would be giving it 1 star, but the author writes well, and when he's on point, it's pretty good. He's not on point often enough, though, and the entire premise is faulty, so I go only as far as 2.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
a richly detailed account of the history of the Silk Road. Fantastic sources and plenty of background info.