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

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Illustrated with drawings, manuscripts, paintings and artifacts, this historical journey through the byways of the old Silk Road is a beautifully rendered tribute to the thousands of years in which these routes served as the center of trade. In reality, as Wood, head of the Chinese section at the British Library, explains, merchandise passing from Central Asia to Europe crossed over a large variety of routes before arriving at its destination, and "the number of travelers who actually traversed the full length of the Silk Roads was always very small." But the importance of the Silk Road is demonstrated by the vast cultural and religious movements that either began or flourished around it, and which are related in historical detail by the author, who traces the road to its origins as far back as Alexander the Great. This is a rich, and richly illustrated, history.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"A beautifully rendered tribute to the thousands of years in which these routes served as the center of trade....This is a rich, and richly illustrated, history." - Publishers Weekly; "The Silk Road - copiously illustrated, as befits its Folio Society origins - is a fine introduction to a world about which most Westerners know only the legend." - Times Literary Supplement; "A splendidly illustrated history of the route along which East met West." - San Jose Mercury News"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (September 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520243404
• ISBN-13: 978-0520243408
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #33,310 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Visually Rich and Expansive History, December 7, 2003

By	doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia (Hardcover)

The ancient trade network between East and West known as the Silk Road is one of history's great melting pots, and the world's most dynamic mixture of culture, language, and knowledge. Frances Wood uses the Silk Road as mostly a conceptual backdrop for more specific historical vignettes here, as a complete history of all the different cultures and societies involved, over the course of at least three millennia, would be prohibitively huge. Though there is some discussion of actual trade and the goods transported long distance and sold in the area's bazaars, Wood focuses on specific areas of interest, such as the mysterious Xiongnu people of ancient times, or the more modern dramatic journeys of explorers like Sven Hedin. A nice bonus is a debunking of some of the claims of Marco Polo, who surely traveled through the area but made many dubious descriptions of particular locations he probability didn't really see. Instead we hear the fascinating stories of other less-known but arguably more impressive travelers of the time, like Bento de Goes. Some of Wood's narratives get worrisomely far away from the Silk Road backdrop, and the tail end of the book is a bit of a slog with tedious coverage of latter-day explorers. However, the general appreciation for the importance of the Silk Road is the larger achievement of this book, and the frequent illustrations and photographs of forlorn landscapes and ancient masterpieces make this book a visual treat as well. [~doomsdayer520~]

69 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars CAPTIVATING INTRODUCTION TO A LEGEND WE KNOW SO LITTLE ABOUT, November 9, 2003

By	Shashank Tripathi (Gadabout) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia (Hardcover)

Francis Wood has clearly digested a wealth of historical data and translated those into a book which one would like to read in one sitting -- which is an inhuman undertaking given the sheer joy and shock of all the little anecdotes, background facts and human insights included in this captivating book.

The "Silk Route" of course had silk as a predominant item of trade (you can expect interesting vignettes such as Chinese children tending pet silkworms on mulberry leaves) but there were countless other items that joined the caravans -- rhubarb, musk, diamonds, jade etc -- as did horses, elephants, lions and ostriches. Yet, apart from its economic clout in that period, this legendary network of roads across Central Asia (as opposed to one highway that most people believe Silk Road was) served as a bustling conduit for culture, languages, customs and faiths across the nations. It was veritably an eBay of the olden times!

In her sobering language littered with intriguing trivia, Ms Wood takes us through centuries of interest in this road. It is refreshing to see her get brazenly outspoken about imperialistic motives towards the latter part of the 19th century that ruined the legendary route, when a lot of European merchants focused on pilfering away everything from cave Buddhas to gold.

At nearly 300 pages, it is not a trivial tome, but I found it both accessible and entertaining. Oh, and it comes with a bunch of illustrations and pictures. If such a vivid historical production interests you, I highly recommend this informative book.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VERY INFORMATIVE, BEAUTIFUL READ. I LEARNED MUCH FROM THIS ONE!, June 4, 2008

By	D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The Silk Road, by Frances Wood is a wonderfully detailed account of the history of what is probably the most famous "road" in history. Of course we soon learn that this "road" is actually a series of roads running here and there through many countries and many cultures. I must admit that when I first received this book, I had a sinking feeling. It appeared to be just another coffee table book. It certainly looked and felt like one. How wrong I was. Just goes to show you indeed cannot judge a book by its cover nor by its shape. I cannot remember reading a book, in particular on this subject, which was so filled with wonderful facts and obscure bits of knowledge. What was even nicer was the fact that it is so well written and so well researched. Also, unlike many of the books on this subject, it is not Eurocentric by any means. Most of the story of this famous trade route took place in the far and Middle East and this is where the author places the majority of emphasis.

While the author certainly touches on the types of goods which were carried along this route, and does address the economic aspect of trade in this part of the world over the past several thousand years, the majority of this work focuses on the various civilization, many of them completely lost, and on the travels of quite a number of important, but seldom heard of travelers and traders. This is NOT a rehash of all the old tales of Marco Polo, who, thank goodness, was not mentioned all that much. The study of Marco is interesting and enjoyable, but to learn the truth of these days and times, his writings are probably not the most accurate. Besides, if you want to learn of Marco and his family, there are certainly enough other books out there that more than cover the subject.

Now before I continue, the reader should take note. As the author fully admits, this is a very complicated work, made even more so by the spelling of place names and the various rise and fall of numerous civilizations. I must admit that at many times I was completely clueless as to where, who and when the author was referring to. This is not the author's fault, it is mine. I had no idea just how ignorant I was of the geography of the area concerned, and how ignorant of the history of that area. If you do not know what and where Zhou, Xiongnu, Yarkland, Loulan, Zhibin, Parthis, Chang'an, Qin, Gaozong, Dunhuang, Xuanzang, and several hundred other locations are, then you will be in big trouble like I was. Many of these place names are further complicated because of name changes over hundreds of years and by numerous different spellings of the same place. There is obviously a large gap in my education. I had the same problem with names of various tribes and the names of people. Even maps are not that much help, as many of the places mentioned in the author's narrative simply no longer exist. Actually and surprisingly, this did not distract from the overall work all that much. And, when you think about it, what better way of learning these previously unknown facts, than the study of a work such as this? The reader should not be put off by this...consider it a learning challenge and experience!

The author is quite outspoken and quite critical during the last part of the book when addressing "The Great Game" and the role the major European powers had in raping, exploiting and destroying traces of these wonderful and lost civilizations. She is also quite harsh in her assessment as to the role of religion is destroying irreplaceable artifacts in the name of one God or another, even addressing the recent atrocities carried out by the Taliban in Afghanistan against religions shrines and the almost complete destruction of museums, all in the name of religion. While I dearly love having access to some of these pieces of history in our own museums, I must admit that we were as guilty as the next is literally stealing from these countries. On the other hand, one wonders if some of these priceless artifacts would still exist in this world had they not been removed from their original source. Food for thought here!

This is a very readable, scholarly work and the many, many pictures, photographs and reproductions make it an absolute pleasure to the eye. This is one of those books that if you read it for the art work alone, you will enjoy and will learn. If you choose to read only one book covering this fascinating subject, then this is the one you should probably choose.