The Silk Roads
by Peter Frankopan · first published 2015
65% recommend29% neutral6% critical
Why HN recommends it
Sweeping world history told from a Central Asian and Middle Eastern vantage rather than a European one, tying trade, religion and politics together. Suits general readers wanting gaps in Western history filled.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Our world was made on and by the Silk Roads. For millennia it was here that East and West encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas and cultures, the birth of the world's great religions, the appetites for foreign goods that drove economies and the growth of nations. From the first cities in Mesopotamia to the growth of Greece and Rome to the depredations by the Mongols and the Black Death to the Great Game and the fall of Communism, the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East. The Silk Roads vividly captures the importance of t
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If you're interested in this kind of history stuff, I recommend reading The Silk Roads, by Peter Frankopan. It's a recent (2015) epic-scope history book, from the beginning of written history to the present day, based on the idea that the Middle East, rather than Europe, is the true center…
on “Who Were the Mamluks?” ↗…a whole) right now. However, as a great man once said “some, I assume, are good people”. If you’d like to learn more about the misadventures of America in the Middle East in particular check out The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan. The last few chapters cover the 20th and 21st centuries.
on “Brexit Deal Fails in Parliament” ↗"The Silk Roads: A New History of the World" By Peter Frankopan. This book tackles essentially all of human history, tying together the world's major cultural shifts with the socioeconomic forces that brought them…
on “Ask HN: Books you wish you had read earlier?” ↗…Hans Rosling The Ethics of Ambiguity, by Simone de Beauvoir Designing Delivery, by Jeff Sussna (re-read) The Cooking Gene, by Michael Twitty Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor The Philosophy of Spinoza The Silk Roads, by Peter Frankopan
on “Why We Should Watch Less News” ↗…(keeping with the theme of non-fiction interesting to the general reader, not industry-specific works): * Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling - Ross King * The Invention of Air - Steven Johnson * The Silk Roads: A New History of the World - Peter Frankopan Other suggestions?
on “The 50 Best Nonfiction Books of the Past 25 Years” ↗…renewing, at least nominally, a trade route which has occupied peoples' imaginations for centuries. In passing, one of the interviewees in the BBC story (Peter Frankopan) wrote a fantastic book ("The Silk Roads: A New History of the World") on the history of the Silk Road that is well worth a read. [1] [0] https://www.corriere.it/economia/lavoro/19_marzo_23/tutti-ac... (Italian) [1] https://www.amazon.com/Silk-Roads-New-History-World/dp/11019...
on “Italy Joins China's New Silk Road Project” ↗I read Peter Frankopan’s history book “The Silk Roads” this summer and it was a great read. Totally recommend it.
on “A Silk Road Renaissance” ↗Dominion by Tom Holland, actually everything by this author The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
on “What we know sex with Neanderthals was like” ↗I just finished the book Silk Roads (https://www.amazon.com/Silk-Roads-New-History-World/dp/11019...) which deals the history of trade between East and West in detail, a fascinating read of this article piqued your interest.
on “Blue Beads in the Tundra” ↗The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan
on “Ask HN: What is one book you would recommend everyone to read?” ↗…add a lengthy comment so rather than edit my comment above I'm creating another one. First, I misplaced where I read the thought I summarized above: Rather than The Anarchy it was in the excellent The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan. Second, as others have zealously pointed out, the term "Northern Europe" is not appropriate, it should be England and the Low Countries. The reason I said "North" was to show the contract…
on “Exploring the richness and variety of letters sent to the East India Company” ↗…to assuage his debts. Except after a certain point he can't donate blood because he cannot afford to eat enough, to produce enough blood to sell. So (iirc) he ends up in prison for debt instead). The Silk Roads . Sick and tired of a european-centric view of history that brushes the rest of the world under the carpet? Well, no longer do you have to endure that. With wonderfully (and indeed, sometimes painfully)…
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt EDIT: Thanks for the list. I think I'm going to check out The Silk Roads - seems like my type of book/topic.
on “Why We Should Watch Less News” ↗…wrote a good book about the spy Kim Phiulby, A Spy Among Friends. Another great book about WWII is Citizens of London by Lynne Olson. One of the best books I've read recently is Peter Frankopan's The Silk Roads that fills in the gaps of history for Westerners. Jaw-dropping details on almost every page--such as the real meaning of the Italian greeting ciao ("I am your slave") because Italian ports were the ceneter…
on “Ask HN: What are your favourite history books?” ↗Robert Caro's Lyndon Johnson biography (multiple volumes) (idolised by Conan O'Brien see https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/style/conan-obrien-robert... - “I’m a fan to a disturbing level.”) The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan Paris 1919 and The War that Ended Peace - Margaret McMillan Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary…
on “Ask HN: What are your favourite history books?” ↗