The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia

by Frances Wood

The 'Silk Road' is one of the most evocative of all geographical names. For more than 2,000 years the extraordinary thoroughfares that ran on either side of the great Central Asian deserts of Gobi and Taklamakan lured travellers, merchants and explorers from both West and East. As well as formidable terrain, travellers contended with temperatures that soared to 38 degrees in the summer and dropped to minus 40 in the winter. Camel trains laden with bales of luxurious brocades and diaphanous silks plodded beneath snow-capped mountains; in surprisingly green oasis towns chaotic markets, thronging with exotic traders, offered everything from coriander and rhubarb to sturdy horses and fat-tailed sheep, precious rubies, diamonds, pearls, and jade.

Frances Wood's thrilling account of these ancient lands, specially commissioned by The Folio Society, is sometimes horrifying, sometimes humorous, but always compelling. We see the fabulous city of Samarkand under the formidable Tamerlane at the beginning of the 15th century; the mysterious Zoroastrian Towers of Silence for the dead, from which Sven Hedin unscrupulously stole skulls at the end of the 19th century; the lost oasis town of Loulan, now buried beneath the Lop desert; and the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, containing the world's earliest paper archive.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, China, Asia, Travel, Historical, World History

270 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

From Wikipedia:

Frances Wood (Chinese: 吴芳思; pinyin: Wú Fāngsī; born 1948) is an English librarian, sinologue and historian known for her writings on Chinese history, including Marco Polo, life in the Chinese treaty ports, and the First Emperor of China.

Biography
Wood was born in London in 1948, and went to art school in Liverpool in 1967, before going to Newnham College, Cambridge University, where she studied Chinese. She went to China to study Chinese at Peking University in 1975–1976.[2]

in March 2001
Wood joined the staff of the British Library in London in 1977 as a junior curator, and later served as curator of Chinese collections until her retirement in 2013.[3][4] She is also a member of the steering committee of the International Dunhuang Project,[5] and the editor of the Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society.[3] She was also a governor of Ashmount Primary School for 20 years, relinquishing this post on the completion of her current term of office in July 2014.

She has argued in her 1995 book, Did Marco Polo go to China?, that the book of Marco Polo (Il Milione) is not the account of a single person, but is a collection of travellers' tales. This book's claims about Polo's travels has been heavily criticized by Stephen G. Haw, David O. Morgan and Peter Jackson as lacking basic academic rigor.

Reviews

[Silvio Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been aware for about a year and a half that Central Asia was a major gap in my knowledge of history. I hoped that this book would help fill that in and it had plenty of solid information in it, mixed in with surprising anecdotes from the ancient chronicles. It talks about the history of quite a few of the peoples who've lived in the region, or at any rate the history of their dealings with China and Europe. For most of them it does a good job of giving a sense of where these peoples came from and so forth to distinguish one from another by, though it's hard to piece together the timeline of civilizations in any of the cities that lasted through several of them. The last third of the book is about the less interesting topic (to me) of late nineteenth/early twentieth century adventurers-cum-archaeologists-cum-spies (yes, some of them were spies of a sort).

[Grace Tjan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a well-illustrated, very readable introduction to the Silk Road and the various countries that it traverses. Wood's brisk narration is lively, and she has a knack for selecting interesting passages from various travelers’ reports on the area, from Marco Polo (who Wood believes to have never traveled to China at all) to Aurel Stein, whose controversial excavations at Dunhuang shed light on esoteric documents that had been sealed up in a cave for a thousand years. Besides Western travelers, we also hear from Asian sources such as Faxian and Xuantang, the famous Tang-dynasty monk who brought Buddhist scriptures to China. For those enamored of the romance and mystery of the Silk Road, this book does not disappoint in its generous depiction of lost cities, buried treasures, exotic goods and ancient legends.

[Stephen]

The Silk Road consists of several chapters in central-Asian history, with generous photographs of the landscape or art connected to the region. If readers are interested primarily in the Silk Road's heyday, the volume may be mildly disappointing, as the chapters on exploration, archaeology, and looting in the 'modern' age (19th century and continuing) constitute half the book. There is much of interest, however, and all of that archaeological looting is still firmly connected to central Asia's golden age. I would read it as a supplement to a more substantive history of the Silk Road trade than a history of it, however.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is not a book for people who want an introduction to the Silk Road. It assumes you know quite a bit about the times and places already, which I do not. There is also not much of a narrative holding the chapters together or keeping me interested. I guess I’ll try another book on this topic some other time.

[Charles Sheard · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars. A very good overview of the history of the so-called Silk Road(s), bringing the author's strength as a librarian to display a rich collection of sources. However, it rather lacks its own voice, and too often relies on long quotations from sources which appear included for no other reason than that they were available. While many such quotations produce valuable color, many are just rather banal descriptions of daily events that add little if anything to a history of the location (this seems especially true in the final chapters with more modern memoirs upon which to draw). This certainly won't appeal to deep-diving academics, but it gives a good surface-level presentation of a subject steeped in exotic orientalist interest, with good front and back map pieces, and excellent photographic illustrations throughout.

Special kudos to Folio Society for the lovely and luxurious silk-binding.

[Pei-jean Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully illustrated and beautifully presented this provides the history of the fabled Silk Road from its earliest beginnings through to now. I have always loved the history of these regions and while it did go into good detail I was hoping for a more in depth history. In saying that though, compared to many others I have read this goes into more detail than those books

[Julie Mabus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting in places and dull in others. It was a good history of the area but dragged in many places.

[Michael Kott · Rating 5 out of 5]

THis was a fascinating read. very glad I pivcked it up. It has a some great illustrations and photos. Highky recommended.

[Chairul Rahmat · Rating 5 out of 5]

enoyying

[Dennis Boccippio · Rating 3 out of 5]

My interest in central Asia has been piqued since a recent homestay trip in Mongolia. Since then, the "-istan's", for me hidden behind the opacity of the Cold War for most of my life, have been a source of mild intrigue. Reading "The Silk Road" has added significant color - if not necessarily clarity - to my familiarity with the tangled history of the region.

The book is readable, if not necessarily fully accessible, to non-academics, presuming significant familiarity with the region and its peoples (both past and present). While not "lavishly" illustrated, it certainly draws from an eclectic sample of material which keeps the interest level up. Descriptions and details are rich. The historical narrative is far from linear, and overall the book would have benefitted from a greater use of maps than the single, stylized map in the front matter.

I wouldn't recommend this book as a casual read, although for fans of history - specifically multicultural and oft-overlooked corners of world history - it may be worth the plunge.

[Ayse Arf · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really good introduction to the Silk Road and it's metamorphoses over time. It's not the most comprehensive history, but that's sort of what makes it good. There's such a huge amount of information about this trade route's thousands of years of history that dwelling on the details would have made this book totally inaccessible for the casual reader. I may not remember from reading this which languages were at which times and in which places lingua franca on the road, but I at least remember what most of the languages were. I gave it three stars just to indicate that if you want a really detailed or meticulously organized history, this isn't really it in the traditional sense. I liked it, though!

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the paperback edition of this book and it has no maps in it which is significant since the book is about the exploration of the Silk Road. Other editions have end paper maps. The author explains that she tried to use the best known of the names for the places in the book, however some of the choices make it difficult to locate the places referenced on modern maps and others sound very dated -- using Peking rather than Beijing, for example.

The Silk Road uses 245 pages of text and photographs to cover more than 2000 years of history with an emphasis on European encounters with The Silk Road and its history. More information the people and cultures along the Silk Road would have been interesting.

[Koen Setyawan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Menceritakan jalur sutra dari zaman ke zaman. Jalur sutra bukan hanya jalur perdagangan, melainkan urat nadi adonan berbagai kebudayaan tempat berbagai bangsa saling bersinggungan, berhubungan, dalam perang dan damai, tempat muncul dan hilangnya peradaban dan tempat tinggal berbagai suku bangsa. Jalur sutra adalah jembatan budaya yang menghubungkan dunia Barat dan Timur. Penulis menyusun kisahnya dari remah-remah catatan kuno dan terbaru, agenda para penjelajah, hikayat dan dongeng para pendeta, catatan para pedangan dan pedang kaum pencoleng.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of very lovely illustrations -- it is about half illustrations. The text was mostly dry, of the general form like [person or group I never hear of] did something at [place I never heard of], without a lot of additional explanation. It all seemed disconnected. Nevertheless, the book was helpful in giving a sense of history of the region from ancient times up through the middle of the 20th century.

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that has some dry parts, but then there will be a burst of wonderful learning. I did lots of online research while reading this one. It got me more interested in Jade and Silk and the 'mysterious' East. China has a very rich history and because I know next to nothing about it, this book helped me to learn a little bit more, this is always good.

[Robert Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a pretty good introduction to the eastern end of the Silk Road, and it is very well illustrated. It does not, however, venture very far beyond the eastern part of the silk road. While it is well written, I was a little surprised by some of the items it focus on, such as Tsarist era officials and explorers. All and all a goof but incomplete introduction to the Silk Road.

[Ann Chamberlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book had great illustrations and pointed me in the direction of good books to read, especially among early western travellers, it seemed to me the author of this one was too dependent on quoting others--especially for a University Press book.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reference on the silk road, fairly easy to read.

[Stezsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

terjemahannya......

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trade has been conducted over land routes between Europe and Asia for thousands of years. The caravan routes were called the Silk Road. This is a history of that trade.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

220 - 2012

[Kaiti · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really pretty pictures!

[Wanda]

19 MAR 2014 -- see Mr Tony's wonderful review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Benjamin Plume · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can't tell, I did a research project on the Silk Road.