When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the "Riches of the "East" [Paperback]

Stewart Gordon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 2009

While European civilization stagnated in the “Dark Ages,” Asia flourished as the wellspring of science, philosophy, and religion. Linked together by a web of spiritual, commercial, and intellectual connections, the distant regions of Asia’s vast civilization, from Arabia to China, hummed with trade, international diplomacy, and the exchange of ideas. Stewart Gordon has fashioned a compelling and unique look at Asia from AD 700 to 1500—a time when Asia was the world—by relating the personal journeys of Asia’s many travelers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gordon, a Senior Research Scholar at the University of Michigan, recalls Thomas Cahill's "Hinges of History" series in this accessible history-in-portraits. Covering "the thousand years from 500 to 1500, when Asia was an astonishing, connected, and creative place," Gordon bases each chapter on the actual memoir of someone who lived, worked and traveled there. Each story has its own unique appeal, the most compelling of which is probably Abraham bin Yiju's: a Jewish spice trader living in southwestern India around 1140 CE, his life proves dramatic and transient, and his letters poignant, as in this plea for news of relatives caught up in the Crusades: "No letter... detailing who died and who remained alive, has arrived. By God, write exact details and send your letters with reliable people to soothe my mind." It's a rare joy-and a slight shock-to find such rich evidence of lives lived 1,000 years ago; given the way time erases personal history, however, it makes sense that each man's story feels incomplete. Gordon lacks the vision and distinctive voice of a Cahill, but history buffs will find this book more than worthwhile.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Choice," 11/08
"A unique and wonderful book...The chapters tell vivid stories full of fascinating details...Grounded in sophisticated network theory, Gordon's stories therefore convey a big picture that is interesting, memorable...Brilliant, brief, and beautifully written, this is an instant, teachable classic in world history. Summing Up: Essential." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; Reprint edition (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 030681739X
• ISBN-13: 978-0306817397
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > History > Historical Study > Civilization & Culture

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Read, December 17, 2007

By 

Sara A. Duvall "S. Duvall" (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When Asia Was the World (Hardcover)

This book was really a fun read - like travel literature plus. I never before thought about what Asia was like when Europe was in the Dark Ages. It's based on the actual journals of people who traveled during that time. There are lots of exotic places, like Bukhara and Samarkand, but I never felt lost. There are good maps and there always seemed to be a paragraph of explanation just when I needed it. The book kept coming back to themes, like common court ceremony or the shared fears of pirates. . A lot of the travelers had friends spread across much of Asia. My favorite chapter was on a man named Ibn Battuta. He went all the way from Morocco to China telling stories and bringing news to courts along the way and made it back to Morocco. It's a readable sized book, a little over 200 pages, and at the end I felt as if I'd been right along with these travelers, felt the heat and cold, and learned a lot about their world.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new view of premodern world history, February 11, 2009

By 

Richard Tucker "Global citizen" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the "Riches of the "East" (Paperback)

This is a brilliantly innovative and highly readable account of the "world" that stretched from the Middle East to East Asia for a millenium before Europe began to sail the globe. Describing a series of contrasting individuals who travelled great distances across kingdoms and cultures, the author takes us vividly through a fascinating kaleidoscope of landscapes, economies, and spiritual terrains as a truly cosmopolitan economy evolved. This book reminds us that Europe was peripheral to world history for many centuries, far from the great civilizations. Providing a fresh balance to Eurocentric assumptions about global history, it will be equally delightful as a classroom textbook and a weekend companion for general readers.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Perspective on Exploration, April 4, 2008

By 

Rob Aft (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When Asia Was the World (Hardcover)

Reading this book opened my eyes to a prejudice that I never knew I had. I love stories about explorers - Marco Polo, Lewis & Clark, Harrison Forman, etc., but I never thought about the Asian explorers whose trips spread culture throughout the known world. Stewart Gordon passionately recounts their stories and their contributions to civilization in this wonderful collection of narratives of great Asian travelers who represented the forefront of learning. It is a good lesson to learn these days when, after 500 years, the Asian world is again emerging as the center of activity. I recommend this book to anyone looking for new stories of travel and adventure. I was not familiar with any of the figures whose stories are told in the book and now realize that their contributions were every bit as important as the explorers we are taught to revere in the West.