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  • The Silk Roads

  • A New History of the World
  • By: Peter Frankopan
  • Narrated by: Mike Grady
  • Length: 25 hrs and 7 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (125 ratings)
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The Silk Roads

By: Peter Frankopan
Narrated by: Mike Grady
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Summary

Bloomsbury presents The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan, read by Mike Grady.

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

For centuries, fame and fortune was 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 adventure and riches. The region stretching from eastern Europe and sweeping right across Central Asia deep into China and India, is taking centre stage in international politics, commerce and culture—and is shaping the modern world.

This region, the true centre of the earth, is obscure to many in the English-speaking world. Yet this is where civilization itself began, where the world’s great religions were born and took root. The Silk Roads were no exotic series of connections, but networks that linked continents and oceans together. Along them flowed ideas, goods, disease and death. This was where empires were won—and where they were lost. As a new era emerges, the patterns of exchange are mirroring those that have criss-crossed Asia for millennia. The Silk Roads are rising again.

A major reassessment of world history, The Silk Roads is an important account of the forces that have shaped the global economy and the political renaissance in the re-emerging east.

©2015 Peter Frankopan (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"Brilliant and fearlessly wide-ranging." (Guardian, Books of the Year)

"Breathtaking and addictively readable." (Daily Telegraph, History Book of the Year)

"Dazzlingly good." (Evening Standard)

What listeners say about The Silk Roads

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    5 out of 5 stars

History repeats himself

History of west and east was manipulated. Truth will come out at some point. good read.

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An excellent book and gives you good perspective. What is going to have soon .

It is a very good book and must read for everybody. Who will understand something in geopolitics and current situation in the world now.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderfully narrated history of civilization

I loved this book, and found it really fascinating. Development of countries, the greed of nations, the divisive nature of religion and how all this shaped what we see today, a really incredible walk through time

The narration is perfect too, real depth and range in Mike's voice brings everything to life.

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    3 out of 5 stars

The first 2/3rds are great. Then it’s “The Road To 9/11” and little else.

The first 2/3rds of the book was enlightening and interesting, but there was way too much time spent on the Middle East and the USA dealings with Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan in the final chapters. It became “the road to 9/11” and seemed to completely skip over China’s rise to economic strength as well as lacking any analysis of the growth of India as a future economic power, and pretty much glossed over the Vietnam War and other aspects of the middle and far east in the last 70 years.
It’s clear the author had an agenda to “prove” that 9/11 was a disaster of the USA’s own creation, which I don’t necessarily dispute, but it became the focus of the book’s final chapters to the exclusion of all else.
The book also assumed a lot of knowledge, throwing in names as if they should be common knowledge without any background explanation or context.
It’s a good history book, but it left me wanting more detail in certain areas.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Not very novel, but quite entertaining

So I’ve heard most of this before, and his conclusions aged really badly given that oil and gas can hardly be called the future now.
But it’s a great overview of the silk roads, and the people that have lived along it for milennia. Really worth a listen.

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User-friendly and educative

I learnt a lot from listening to the book. I found it engaging and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will listen to it again.

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Outstanding

A quite brilliant, cleverly crafted history of The Silk Roads. Beautifully narrated. Long and satisfying listen. Very much enjoyed learning.

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Fantastic jaw dropping

Wonderful narration an amazing book if you read just one book about the history of the Middle East this is the one though strongly recommend more it will change all your ideas and for the better

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World history turned upside down

Full of knowledge and food for thought.Giving a different perspective of world history and how we are taught it in the western hemisphere.

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A fascinating purce of work and historic analysis

Amazing book! The best overview and analysis of thousands of years of history to modernity.Absolutely recommend!

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