📖 peek insideThe Silk Roads: A New History of the World
by Peter Frankopan
Peter Frankopan re-centers world history on the East, specifically the region stretching from the Mediterranean to China. He argues that the Silk Roads were the true central nervous system of global civilization, where trade, religion, and ideas flowed for millennia. By shifting the focus away from the Eurocentric narrative, Frankopan provides a fresh perspective on the rise and fall of empires and the interconnectedness of our global past. It is an ambitious, sweeping narrative that redefines our understanding of how the modern world was built.
A popular book with millions of readers worldwide.
Notable Quotes
"So widespread was slavery in the Mediterranean and the Arabic world that even today regular greetings reference human trafficking. All over Italy, when they meet, people say to each other, “schiavo,” from a Venetian dialect. “Ciao,” as it is more commonly spelt, does not mean “hello”; it means “I am your slave."
"A talent for following the ways of yesterday’, declared King Wu-ling in 307 BC, ‘is not sufficient to improve the world of today."
"And yet, despite the horror it caused, the plague turned out to be the catalyst for social and economic change that was so profound that far from marking the death of Europe, it served as its making."
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