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Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present
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Review
"Winner of the 2009 PROSE Award in World History & Biography/Autobiography, Association of American Publishers""Christopher I. Beckwith, professor of Central Eurasian studies at Indiana University, suggests in his recent book, Empires of the Silk Road (Princeton University Press), that 'the most crucial element' of societies all through Central Eurasia--including the ones analyzed by this exhibition--was the 'sociopolitical-religious ideal of the heroic lord' and of a 'war band of his friends' that was attached to him and 'sworn to defend him to the death.' This idea, he suggests, affected the organization of early Islam as well as the structure of Tibetan Buddhist devotion. In fact, this 'shared political ideology across Eurasia,' Mr. Beckwith suggests, 'ensured nearly constant warfare.' The region's history is a history of competing empires; trade became part of what was later called the Great Game."---Edward Rothstein, New York Times"[T]his is no mere survey. Beckwith systematically demolishes the almost universal presumption that the peoples and powers of Inner Asia were typically predatory raiders, and thus supplied themselves by extracting loot and tribute from more settled populations. . . . With his work, there is finally a fitting counterpart to Peter B. Golden's magnificently comprehensive An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis and State Formation in Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East, based on Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Greek, Latin, and European medieval sources. By reading just two books anyone can now sort out Charlemagne's Avar Ring, the Golden Horde, modern Kazakhs and Uzbeks, ancient Scyths, Borodin's Polovtsian dances (they were Cumans), present-day Turks, Seljuks, Ottomans, early Turks, and Bulghars and Bulgarians, among many less familiar states or nations."---Edward Luttwak, New Republic"[E]rudite and iconoclastic, [Empires of the Silk Road] provides a wealth of new ideas, perspectives, and information about the political and other formations that flourished in that large portion of the world known as Central Eurasia. . . . [A] major contribution to Central Eurasian and world history."---Nicola Di Cosmo, Journal of Global History"[T]his volume is certain to provoke lively discussion across the field."---Scott C. Levi, American Historical Review"This book demands our attention and will stimulate interest and debate in many circles. The author is to be congratulated on a book that is both thoughtful and provocative in its call for a reassessment of Central Eurasia and its role in world history."---Michael R. Drompp, Journal of Asian Studies"In the process of illuminating this essential piece of the human past, Beckwick constructs a scrupulously researched narrative that is wholly accessible, and demands close attention."---Nicholas Basbanes, FineBooksMagazine.com"[Beckwith] is quite a feisty writer, as in his hot-tempered preface excoriating post-modern thought. . . . Prof. Beckwith is one of those scholars whose almost innumerable footnotes can be relished for their wonderfully obscure detail."---George Fetherling, Diplomat & International Canada"Beckwith is the first to have carried off the feat of actually writing a history of this whole expanse of time and space in a way stimulating enough to make the reader think about it from start to finish. There is certainly something heroic about that, and this book deserves therefore to go into paperback very much as it is, uncompromised by any retractions that may be forced upon its author by others."---T. H. Barrett, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies"The result of a lifetime's work on Central Asia and a complete overturning of many of our preconceptions. . . . Essential."---Hugh Andrew, Glasgow Herald
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From the Back Cover
"Empires of the Silk Road is a major scholarly achievement. This is the first book to provide a comprehensive account of the history of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the present. But it is much more than a simple narrative of events in what is arguably the most important region for the development of civilization during the past four or five millennia. It is an intellectually ambitious undertaking that attempts to account for essential transformations in the cultural, economic, and political life of societies situated both within the Central Eurasian heartland and on its periphery. Beckwith achieves the radical feat of demonstrating how Central Eurasia is actually key for understanding the dynamics of human history and progress throughout antiquity, the medieval period, and the recent past. Above all, and for the first time, he convincingly shows that Central Eurasia was not a sump of poverty-stricken, unremittingly vicious subhumans, but a wellspring of vibrant, energetic, resourceful, enterprising peoples who facilitated communication and change in all directions. In other words, Beckwith turns conventional wisdom on its head and makes Central Eurasia the core of human history, rather than the embarrassing backwater which it is usually portrayed as. Perhaps his greatest contribution is in the powerful, sustained epilogue, where he shatters a whole galaxy of misconceptions about the dreaded 'barbarians.'"--Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania"Ambitious, provocative, and bristling with new ideas, Empires of the Silk Road will set off sparks. The book's clearly articulated themes are lively and stimulating, and Beckwith's integration of European, Central Asian, and East Asian materials makes this a major work in Eurasian and world history. In range and depth, this readable book is quite unlike any other."--Peter B. Golden, Rutgers University"Empires of the Silk Road is a major scholarly achievement. . . . Beckwith turns conventional wisdom on its head and makes Central Eurasia the core of human history, rather than the embarrassing backwater which it is usually portrayed as."--Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania
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Product details
Paperback: 512 pages
Publisher: Princeton University Press; Reprint edition (May 8, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0691150346
ISBN-13: 978-0691150345
Product Dimensions:
5.5 x 1.5 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
3.6 out of 5 stars
49 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#94,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Beckwith’s opening statement well describes his offering: “This book is ultimately about the continent-wide struggle between the Central Eurasians and the peripheral peoples, leading to the victory of the latter, the destruction of the Central Eurasian states, and the reduction of Central Eurasian peoples to extreme poverty and near extinction before their miraculous rebirth, in the nick of time, at the end of the twentieth century.â€The peripheral peoples being Persia, China, Russia, and the Roman Empire and its lingering aftermath all developed from Antiquity toward the present. “The primary result of the re–Central Eurasianization of Romanized Western Europe was the cultural revolution known prosaically as the Middle Ages.†(p. 111)With a later publication he could have included the current imprisonment of a reported one million Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims in internment camps across the northwest Central Asian border region of Xinjiang as one area of Eurasia’s history. All in preparation for Xi Jinping’s new Silk Road expansion across what is often referred to as ‘The Stans.’In other word, Beckwith is correct Central Eurasia is coming alive again, moving from the areas treatment, by even recent historians, as the ‘Barbarians’ to a people endowed with a rich integration of language and customs aligned with their peripheral neighbors and as he forcefully argues never more aggressive than those around them and mankind in general.The Silk Road of the title moves from the mythical China to Rome with banditry in the middle to the integral commercial activates of the Eurasian peoples that were so important to them and missed by many historians. This is a mind opening exposé of an ignored area of world history, but a slow and sometime ponderous presentation -- worth the time spent by those with curiosity.It lacks maps but they can be found online as can Pinyin spelling for Wade-Giles used by the author. See ZAI-NOX review below for political slant of the author.
First and foremost, Christopher Beckwith is a eminent scholar of Central Eurasian Studies and just as importantly, this is a rigorous book meant as a brief but comprehensive outline of Eurasian history for scholars, students, and perhaps general readers. Because of the rather neglected field Central Eurasian studies is, this is one of the very few books available for a general overview of Central Eurasian history. I'm a student of Central Eurasian Studies and I'll give my opinion but by first detailing it's strengths.1. A excellent overview and somewhat comprehensive treatment of Eurasian history from prehistory to modern times.2. The book demystifies and sets the record straight of myths and misconceptions about Central Eurasia and its inhabitants while detailing how Central Eurasia has profoundly influenced not just its own region but also world history.3. Has a extensive bibliography for further study.4. Has many footnotes for extra vital or enlightening information.5. In the end of the book there are a few maps, appendices, and endnotes that can be helpful and informative.6. The author's writing is clear and somewhat easy to follow.7. This work is very affordable especially for being a academic 500+ page book.Now for the drawbacks.1. Mostly focuses on the political and economic history of Central Eurasia (If you're looking for a cultural and/or religious history, this may not be the book for you).2. Highly technical and academic so it's hard to read and understand at times. The footnotes and appendices seem to meant for hardened scholars. The author seems to assume you already have a deep familiarity of the subject. This flaw might make it a struggle to read for general readers. Everyone else thread lightly.3. The book covers a very vast region so sometimes the names, locations, peoples, religions, dates and more can get overwhelming or confusing.4. This book would of benefited from illustrations, pictures and much more maps.5. Book loses focus when it reaches the early modern age and beyond. The book for some reason takes up many pages on the economic history of Southeast Asia and a odd rant about modern art and music. This and other detours make the book difficult to read at times.6. The author has a obsessive hatred for Modernism and Post-Modernism so prepare for many long-winded rants. He blames every evil in the world and critiques anything he doesn't like by claiming it's because of Post-Modernism without ever explaining what it is and why it's bad. A example is Endnote 88 on page 417-8: 'Edward Said accused Western scholars of having stolen Asian peoples' culture by studying them. This extreme anti-intellectualism has been well criticized'. The author is clearly wrong here. What Edward Said was actually talking about is that Western scholars sometimes put their Western or Christian prejudices and bias into the history, religion, and culture of non-western civilizations so creating a possibly false (biased) view of that subject.7. Chapter 9 might be by far the worst chapter of them all. The author goes out of his way to make excuses and apologia for the brutal European dominance of the Middle East and Asia during the early modern age. Gives borderline racist excuses like saying that Europeans came and solved the crime so who cares about the bad things they did and that Europeans had laws better than that of the Middle Easterners and Asians. He also makes it sound like only Europeans had a sense of wonder and curiosity so that's why they dominated and explored. The only good thing about the chapter is correctly criticizing Christian missionaries and their consequences on both European trade and Asian societies. These views of the author make me suspect that there is a Right-Wing bias not just in the his personal politics but also that it may spill into his scholarship (Like in this book) but who knows.Ok, I'm finished. While some of the author's points seem valid, much of his points regarding Modernism and politics are just wasting space on this book. However, the occasional loss of focus on the topic at hand and its very dry academic tone are probably the biggest flaws of the book. Nonetheless this is one of a very few books devoted to a general history of Central Eurasia but its a rather solid one at that. It's very comprehensive and another bonus is the surprising affordability of it. The positives overweigh the negatives in my opinion. Well, I hope my review helped whether you are a scholar, students, or casual reader.
Using a wide variety of sources, the author paints a history of the interconnectedness of the peoples and empires along the Silk Road. Parallels are found in creation myths, in the establishment of royal retinues, in languages, and lifestyles. It is a book that is rich in references from European and Asian sources, adding unusual tones to many of the discussions.
A great book. It really teaches you new things and opens up your mind. A long screed against modernism at the end may be a bit off-putting to some, but like everything else about this book, it is worth a read and thought-provoking.Must read.
I bought this book expecting a narrative history of the “Silk Road,†portions of which I have visited. I found instead a scholarly work impressive for documentation and cited linguistic details. The latter are tough going for us non-specialists. Most impressive however were the detailed arguments for transforming the peoples of the Central Eurasian States from generic “barbarians,†the description most of us grew up with, to a detailed collection of identifiable ethnic, tribal, national or regional groups. Not an easy read, but fascinating.R. P. Farrow
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April 17, 2015
