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

The Silk Road in western China is the focus, with peripheral coverage to the south and west. And the chronology is only roughly in order. This is not a comprehensive history of the Silk Road(s) (and, yes, the plural is well advised). Very well illustrated and, sadly, poorly served with maps; do writers and their editors think we can imagine the locations and the distances? That failure cost a star.But if you have no interest in the Silk Road, early long distance trade between cultures, the spread of knowledge and superstition, or the history of central Asia, you will still want to read this for the writing. Which is NOT too clever by half, but clever in exactly the proper amount; Wood's subtle elbows to those who are perhaps less than honest or combative may make you re-read a page here and there.Or you might read it because the characters and terrain are so well sculpted by his prose; you walk through now familiar landscape with companions you know and might well dislike.In a footnote late in the book, Wood addresses a subject obvious to a thoughtful reader much earlier; the morality of 'grave-robbing'. I did not note the page, but Wood quotes an English source as asking 'how we would find a Chinese taking early English documents to Peking', which reference, I think inserts the question into the narrative at that point.I thought I knew the answer to that and similar questions, but after reading this well-crafted bit of literature, I'm certain I don't. Well done indeed!

Frances Wood demonstrates impressive scholarly scope in her "Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia", which endeavors to represent in fewer than 250 pages a long history of trade, wars, explorations, and travels by a great diversity of peoples and persons -- roughly encompassing the age of the Han Dynasty from about 200 BCE through the 1930s. Eschewing exhaustive pedantry, Wood provides an array of historical riches, interesting biographical sketches, fascinating anecdotes, and choice literary excerpts, all woven nicely into the smart fabric of her polished and congenial prose. The illustrations are abundant, apt, and beautiful. One of the picture captions is ambiguous, and there is one, likely inadvertent, error of fact (the Sogdian language said to be related to the Aramaic language). All in all, a superior specimen of historiography tailored to a wide spectrum of the intellectually curious.

There's surprisingly few academic works about the fabled Silk Road and Central Asia, much less a illustrated one. As such, this book gives a great overview of Central Asian and Silk Road history from antiquity to the present day while being profusely illustrated. However, the content and scholarly accuracy is not always the best. To explain what I mean I'll make a concise list of the flaws this book contains.1. The author, Frances Wood, does not specialize in Central Asia. Her expertise is in Chinese studies and exploration history. This is important as it leads to the next problems the book has.2. Many mistakes. This is just odd considering this is supposed to be a academic book. Two examples include claiming the Sogdian language is related to the Aramaic language. Sogdian is a Eastern Middle Iranian language while Aramiac is a Semitic one. Another mistake is claiming the Wakhi language is a Persian dialect. It's a Neo-Eastern Iranian language. Most mistakes stem from the authors' ignorance of linguistics and philology.3. Uneven coverage and perspective. The book spends more than half the space covering modern Central Asia. It's a snooze as it reads like a bland recitation of facts and quotes without it's specific context. The perspective is quite one-sided and therefore less diverse and stimulating. It focuses on the modern history of Central Asia through Western eyes and rarely includes the perspective of the Central Asian natives and Easteners like the Chinsese or Mongols. If the book at least had a little more perspective, it would be tolerable but that's not the case.4. As stunning as the photos are, there are problems with it. Many of the photos are oversized and space consuming. This is probably why the book has such little content and coverage is so sparse. Many of the photos themselves have a small caption with a meager amount of information. It doesn't give enough background. And of course, some photos simply don't belong in this book. Many are modern day photos that aren't even located in Central Asia or the silk road.It's disappointing that such a little-studied topic and region has this book to be a general introduction to students and the lay reader. It's the perfect introduction for casual readers but a bit lackluster for researchers and serious students. However, It's still a fun book to pick up and enjoy. The nice overview of the history and culture of Central Asia is also another positive. Hopefully, another illustrated academic book about the Silk Road and Central Asia will be published soon but given the neglected state of the topic, it's unlikely. At least for now, this book will keep me busy with it's photos and decent information.

Fraces Wood's SILK ROAD is a highly readable if somewhat compact survey of the Silk Road which manages to encompass history (interesting discussion of Marco Polo among other things), geography, and culture. This is an excellent introduction to an area of the world, Central Asia and the Roof Of The World, which is likely to become increasingly important as well as accessible. I would suggest reading this book before starting to read very much about The Great Game (Peter Hopkirk's Central Asia books, Meyer's TOURNAMENT OF SHADOWS), or indeed about Central Asia in general. Documentation appears excellent as one would expect of a scholar of Wood's background and credentials. The writing style is exemplary; this is am far more readable treatiste on the subject than the English ranslation of Luce Boulnois' SILK ROAD (which seems to have lacked vigourous or at least effective editing.)

I have not yet had a chance to read it, but you might like to know that this book is recommended by the British Library in its UK 2004 exhibition on the Silk Road (or roads).

This is a well known book about China. It is well researched and is full of wonderful illustrations. This is the paper back edition - it is good value for money