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justinlife 's review for:
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
by Peter Frankopan
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
This book is a lot and the title is somewhat misleading.
I expected a book that focused more on the ancient avenues of the Silk Roads and maybe a more developed local history. This books is not that. I mean it is, but it's more. It places this region of the world at the center and describes how politics, trade, religion, and empire building affected it and how control for this region affected the world.
I was a little annoyed when I got 60% in and it started discussing the 20th century. I didn't want to read 40% about the World Wars and 20th century politics. Once I got in though, I found the information he presents to be fascinating and it gave me a opportunity to view European and American colonization/meddling from a different lens. It helped me find that signal through the noise and see how American Middle Eastern Foreign policy affected the region in ways that I didn't consider.
The first 60% was still really fascinating, though. There's a lot that Frankopan covers and moving the focus to the Eurasian Steppe rather than Western Europe helps the reader see a bigger picture. When he discusses decades in sentences, I felt that everything our society is going through (global economic collapse, recession, depression, pandemic, and wars) has already happened many times over. It's both reassuring and sad.
I really learned a lot from this book. I didn't really put trade in the categories for shaping the world as much as religion or nationality, but it's right there and Frankopan let's the reader know how important trade has been to the world.
My only issue with this book is that while the focus isn't supposed to mainly be Europe, it's still Eurocentric. I wanted more information of the East's relationship to this area rather than how this area impacts European politics.
If you do take this book on, try and do a chapter at a time. There's a lot to take in and it can be overwhelming. I used the audiobook to help and it felt like I took a crash course in world history. I definitely feel like a got an education from it.
I expected a book that focused more on the ancient avenues of the Silk Roads and maybe a more developed local history. This books is not that. I mean it is, but it's more. It places this region of the world at the center and describes how politics, trade, religion, and empire building affected it and how control for this region affected the world.
I was a little annoyed when I got 60% in and it started discussing the 20th century. I didn't want to read 40% about the World Wars and 20th century politics. Once I got in though, I found the information he presents to be fascinating and it gave me a opportunity to view European and American colonization/meddling from a different lens. It helped me find that signal through the noise and see how American Middle Eastern Foreign policy affected the region in ways that I didn't consider.
The first 60% was still really fascinating, though. There's a lot that Frankopan covers and moving the focus to the Eurasian Steppe rather than Western Europe helps the reader see a bigger picture. When he discusses decades in sentences, I felt that everything our society is going through (global economic collapse, recession, depression, pandemic, and wars) has already happened many times over. It's both reassuring and sad.
I really learned a lot from this book. I didn't really put trade in the categories for shaping the world as much as religion or nationality, but it's right there and Frankopan let's the reader know how important trade has been to the world.
My only issue with this book is that while the focus isn't supposed to mainly be Europe, it's still Eurocentric. I wanted more information of the East's relationship to this area rather than how this area impacts European politics.
If you do take this book on, try and do a chapter at a time. There's a lot to take in and it can be overwhelming. I used the audiobook to help and it felt like I took a crash course in world history. I definitely feel like a got an education from it.