You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
kitness 's review for:
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
by Peter Frankopan
challenging
informative
slow-paced
A very uneven book. It starts out great, but around the time it hits the rise of the west, it increasingly ignores the east or only depicts it and its events from the view of the UK or US. This wouldn’t be so bad in a normal world history book, but The Silk Roads explicitly purports to not be west-centric.
As for Africa, Pacific Islanders, most of East Asia (such as Myanmar), native North Americans, or South America, forget it. This is a book about Europe, the US, the Middle East, and China, so it’s not exactly a world history.
I learned a lot and felt it was still an impressive overview, with frequent citations and quotes from direct sources. However, I have concerns about its accuracy because of one claim I did think to question: “…in 1967 when Nasser [Egypt] launched a surprise attack on Israel.” This statement is not biased; it is dead wrong. It was Israel that launched a surprise attack on Egypt to kick off the Six-Day War. I am concerned that if I knew more, I’d find other gross inaccuracies as well.
A decent history book with much to offer, but flawed. Still waiting for a true world history that is fact-based, not biased toward the west, and actually covers the whole world.
As for Africa, Pacific Islanders, most of East Asia (such as Myanmar), native North Americans, or South America, forget it. This is a book about Europe, the US, the Middle East, and China, so it’s not exactly a world history.
I learned a lot and felt it was still an impressive overview, with frequent citations and quotes from direct sources. However, I have concerns about its accuracy because of one claim I did think to question: “…in 1967 when Nasser [Egypt] launched a surprise attack on Israel.” This statement is not biased; it is dead wrong. It was Israel that launched a surprise attack on Egypt to kick off the Six-Day War. I am concerned that if I knew more, I’d find other gross inaccuracies as well.
A decent history book with much to offer, but flawed. Still waiting for a true world history that is fact-based, not biased toward the west, and actually covers the whole world.