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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
DNF @ 75%
I mostly enjoyed the first half of this book. It focused on the geographical region of the silk roads and the relationship between Europe and Asia but with the weight moreso on Asia than other histories of the period.
As time goes on and Europe becomes the more dominant centre of power this just becomes a big standard world history. The "Silk Road" becomes something more conceptual the author can apply to whatever flow of trade he's talking about. We go for chapters barely hearing about the Ottoman Empire or China or any of the former powers in the Middle East.
Cut the latter half of this book entirely (and edit the first somewhat) and you have an interesting history of the world up until the 16th Century that isn't so Eurocentric. The rest wholly centres the European (and subsequently American) powers. Which is fine, they were pretty important! But when your book opens with the idea that we neglect to centre Asian and Arabian powers in our history it feels like a bait and switch to give them lip service for half the book and justify it by saying "X was America/Britain/Germany/the Dutch's new Silk Road".
Also the accents used for quotes in the audiobook feel pretty problematic. There's a chunk in the middle where they seem to stop, like someone passed a memo, but they creep back in.
I mostly enjoyed the first half of this book. It focused on the geographical region of the silk roads and the relationship between Europe and Asia but with the weight moreso on Asia than other histories of the period.
As time goes on and Europe becomes the more dominant centre of power this just becomes a big standard world history. The "Silk Road" becomes something more conceptual the author can apply to whatever flow of trade he's talking about. We go for chapters barely hearing about the Ottoman Empire or China or any of the former powers in the Middle East.
Cut the latter half of this book entirely (and edit the first somewhat) and you have an interesting history of the world up until the 16th Century that isn't so Eurocentric. The rest wholly centres the European (and subsequently American) powers. Which is fine, they were pretty important! But when your book opens with the idea that we neglect to centre Asian and Arabian powers in our history it feels like a bait and switch to give them lip service for half the book and justify it by saying "X was America/Britain/Germany/the Dutch's new Silk Road".
Also the accents used for quotes in the audiobook feel pretty problematic. There's a chunk in the middle where they seem to stop, like someone passed a memo, but they creep back in.
informative
reflective
fast-paced
A fascinating and informative history full of things I felt I should have known but didn't well-told and fast-paced but I could still follow the thread of the explanation
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
An important historical education that puts the ancient and modern worlds into perspective.
And a sobering reminder that power always shifts, war follows resources, and people never change.
Unfortunately.
And a sobering reminder that power always shifts, war follows resources, and people never change.
Unfortunately.
This was a very engaging book on the history of "middle of the world" from ancient times to the present. It s a history of everywhere from the Middle East through central Asia to the borders to China. The central argument of the book is that far from being just a strange exotic land that connects East and West, it has been and will become again a central part of world history. Names like Samarkand, the Sogdia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan abound. It was a critical crossroads of faith that played a key part in both the expansion of Christianity and later Islam. The ancient fur trade and slave trade by the Viking Rus occurred along the Silk Road. It was were the western kingdoms called their crusaders to invade in the dawn of the second millennium. The Mongols and the Black Death and Russia's wheat all came from there. Lastly, rich in oil, natural gas, and rare earth elements the Silk Road has a continuing relevance to the politics of the current day. One just has to look at the recent and continuing US wars to see that.