Silk Roads: A New History of the World

The No. 1 Sunday Times and international bestseller - a major reassessment of world history in light of the economic and political renaissance in the re-emerging east.

'Magnificent’ Sunday Times

'Immensely entertaining ... so ambitious, so detailed, so fascinating' The Times

For centuries, fame and fortune were to be found in the west – in the New World of the Americas. Today, it is the east which calls out to those in search of riches and adventure. Sweeping right across Central Asia and deep into China and India, a region that once took centre stage is again rising to dominate global politics, commerce and culture.

A major reassessment of world history, The Silk Roads is a dazzling exploration of the forces that have driven the rise and fall of empires, determined the flow of ideas and goods and are now heralding a new dawn in international affairs.


Many books have been written which claim to be "A New History of the World". This one fully deserves the title.It is difficult, in a short review, to do justice to a book so ambitious, so detailed and so fascinating as this one (Gerald DeGroot The Times 2015-08-08)

A book that roves as widely as the geography it describes, encompassing worlds as far removed as those of Herodotus and Saddam Hussein, Hammurabi and Hitler.It is a tribute to Frankopan's scholarship and mastery of sources in multiple languages that he is as sure-footed on the ancient world as he is on the medieval and modern (Justin Marozzi Sunday Times 2015-08-09)

My book of the year: history on a grand scale, with a sweep of ambition that is rare ... A remarkable book on many levels, and one that anyone would have been proud to write: a proper historical epic of dazzling range, ambition and achievement (William Dalrymple Observer)

The most illuminating book of the year ... A healthy antidote to Eurocentric accounts of history (Books of the Year Times Literary Supplement)

Splendid ... tightly researched ... invigorating and profound with enough storytelling to excite the reader and enough fresh scholarship to satisfy the intellect...charismatic and essential (Bettany Hughes Daily Telegraph 2015-08-15)

A rare book that makes you question your assumptions about the world (Wall Street Journal)

Dazzlingly good (Evening Standard)

Based on astonishingly wide and deep reading and in all areas draws on the latest research... It is full of vivid and recondite details (Independent 2015-08-15)

Full of intriguing insights and fascinating details (Observer)

With extraordinary erudition and a vivid style, he takes us on a dazzling tour of these parts from the rise of the first empires right through to the present (Open (Weekly))