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A review by guybrarian133
The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World by William Dalrymple
4.0
(Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this work courtesy of NetGalley)
I have always had a special interest for any kind of history or nonfiction read that goes in-depth on how interconnected the ancient world was. On top of that, I’ve also carried something of a hyper specific fascination in all the ways that early Buddhism met with the Greco-Roman world and even blended at several different points of contact. As a result, I found myself quickly drawn into The Golden Road. I not only enjoyed the sections devoted to subjects such as the Kushan Empire and the art of Gandhara, topics that I already had a little bit of prior familiarity with, but I also liked learning in-detail about the array of other ways that India’s influence was felt from China, to across southeast Asia and into Europe.
However, I do feel the need to criticize this book in one area. I find that Dalrymple is a bit uneven in his coverage of the topic, with some areas getting what feels like an over-generous amount of attention. One prominent example that comes to mind is roughly midway through the book, when everything seems to be very narrowly focused upon the Chinese monk Faxian, and surrounding historical figures. And while his era was of course a major period of rapid spread and strong support for Buddhism in China, I felt like things had temporarily become micro-focused at the expense of the greater overarching narrative.
Still, I do appreciate the work overall. I do agree with Dalrymple’s general sentiment that India’s contributions to the ancient world tends to be heavily overlooked, and enjoyed having the ability to get a strong taste of just how far and how deeply many of the ideas, beliefs, and culture that originated on the subcontinent spread in one easily accessible read. Definitely one of major eye-opening history reads of the past year for me, and I am quite positive that many others will feel strongly likewise.
I have always had a special interest for any kind of history or nonfiction read that goes in-depth on how interconnected the ancient world was. On top of that, I’ve also carried something of a hyper specific fascination in all the ways that early Buddhism met with the Greco-Roman world and even blended at several different points of contact. As a result, I found myself quickly drawn into The Golden Road. I not only enjoyed the sections devoted to subjects such as the Kushan Empire and the art of Gandhara, topics that I already had a little bit of prior familiarity with, but I also liked learning in-detail about the array of other ways that India’s influence was felt from China, to across southeast Asia and into Europe.
However, I do feel the need to criticize this book in one area. I find that Dalrymple is a bit uneven in his coverage of the topic, with some areas getting what feels like an over-generous amount of attention. One prominent example that comes to mind is roughly midway through the book, when everything seems to be very narrowly focused upon the Chinese monk Faxian, and surrounding historical figures. And while his era was of course a major period of rapid spread and strong support for Buddhism in China, I felt like things had temporarily become micro-focused at the expense of the greater overarching narrative.
Still, I do appreciate the work overall. I do agree with Dalrymple’s general sentiment that India’s contributions to the ancient world tends to be heavily overlooked, and enjoyed having the ability to get a strong taste of just how far and how deeply many of the ideas, beliefs, and culture that originated on the subcontinent spread in one easily accessible read. Definitely one of major eye-opening history reads of the past year for me, and I am quite positive that many others will feel strongly likewise.