The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

World history told from its centre rather than its western edge: Peter Frankopan places the trade corridors running from the Balkans through Persia, Central Asia and China at the heart of the story. Along these routes goods, silver, armies, faiths and ideas travelled for two thousand years, and the book follows that traffic from ancient empires through the spread of Buddhism, Christianity and Islam to the oil politics and world wars of the twentieth century. The argument throughout is that the fortunes of Europe and the Americas have always turned on what happened further east. At a glance: • A single-volume global history organised around trade routes instead of nations • Traces religion, commerce, conquest and disease along the same corridors • Connects ancient Persia and Samarkand to present-day Middle Eastern politics • Extensive notes and sources for readers who want to follow the research A strong choice for history students, general readers and anyone curious about the long centrality of Asia, available at Boipoka.