FarmorethanahistoryoftheSilkRoads,thisbookistrulyarevelatorynewhistoryoftheworld,promisingtodestabilizenotionsofwherewecomefromandwhereweareheadednext.FromtheMiddleEastanditspoliticalinstabilitytoChinaanditseconomicrise,thevastregionstretchingeastwardfromtheBalkansacrossthesteppeandSouthAsiahasbeenthrustintotheglobalspotlightinrecentyears.Frankopanteachesusthattounderstandwhatisatstakeforthecitiesandnationsbuiltontheseintricatetraderoutes,wemustfirstunderstandtheirastoundingpasts.Frankopanrealignsourunderstandingoftheworld,pointinguseastward.ItwasontheSilkRoadsthatEastandWestfirstencounteredeachotherthroughtradeandconquest,leadingtothespreadofideas,culturesandreligions.FromtheriseandfallofempirestothespreadofBuddhismandtheadventofChristianityandIslam,rightuptothegreatwarsofthetwentiethcentury--thisbookshowshowthefateoftheWesthasalwaysbeeninextricablylinkedtotheEast.Alsoavailable:TheNewSilkRoads,atimelyexplorationofthedramaticandprofoundchangesourworldisundergoingrightnow--asseenfromtheperspectiveoftherisingpowersoftheEast.
