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iterdei 's review for:
The New Silk Roads: The Present and Future of the World
by Peter Frankopan
Similar to its predecessor, The New Silk Roads tried to capture the full complexity of the area giving insights into how the present was shaped and how the future of the world might look. Towards this goal, it did a marvelous job.
Now you might wonder why this review only has three stars rather than the five I gave to the earlier book. The New Silk Roads tries to delve deep into recent history. The 'recent' part of this goal is, in my opinion, the reason it did not succeed to the same degree as the other book. Events of only a few years (or even months) before the release of the book were attempted to be discussed in this book. However, the strength of the previous book lay in the ability of the author to discuss the various perspectives possible for analysing the silk roads throughout history. Focusing on extremely recent events not only makes in depths discussions more difficult - and occasionally rather biased, it also results in rather sloppy mistakes in the editing of the book itself. The book therefore does not deserve a higher rating from me than the one given.
If the book had been released in a few years time, which would have allowed for more deliberation and reflection on recent events, it could have been a master piece like its predecessor. I still recommend reading it, yet keep these thoughts in mind when having Peter Frankopan guide you in contextualising recent global developments.
Now you might wonder why this review only has three stars rather than the five I gave to the earlier book. The New Silk Roads tries to delve deep into recent history. The 'recent' part of this goal is, in my opinion, the reason it did not succeed to the same degree as the other book. Events of only a few years (or even months) before the release of the book were attempted to be discussed in this book. However, the strength of the previous book lay in the ability of the author to discuss the various perspectives possible for analysing the silk roads throughout history. Focusing on extremely recent events not only makes in depths discussions more difficult - and occasionally rather biased, it also results in rather sloppy mistakes in the editing of the book itself. The book therefore does not deserve a higher rating from me than the one given.
If the book had been released in a few years time, which would have allowed for more deliberation and reflection on recent events, it could have been a master piece like its predecessor. I still recommend reading it, yet keep these thoughts in mind when having Peter Frankopan guide you in contextualising recent global developments.