Empires of the Silk Road

[Dave Monroe]

Empires of the Silk Road:
A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present
Christopher I. Beckwith
Cloth | 2009 | $35.00 / £19.95
496 pp. | 6 x 9


The first complete history of Central Eurasia from ancient times to
the present day, Empires of the Silk Road represents a fundamental
rethinking of the origins, history, and significance of this major
world region. Christopher Beckwith describes the rise and fall of the
great Central Eurasian empires, including those of the Scythians,
Attila the Hun, the Turks and Tibetans, and Genghis Khan and the
Mongols. In addition, he explains why the heartland of Central Eurasia
led the world economically, scientifically, and artistically for many
centuries despite invasions by Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Chinese, and
others. In retelling the story of the Old World from the perspective
of Central Eurasia, Beckwith provides a new understanding of the
internal and external dynamics of the Central Eurasian states and
shows how their people repeatedly revolutionized Eurasian
civilization.

Beckwith recounts the Indo-Europeans' migration out of Central
Eurasia, their mixture with local peoples, and the resulting
development of the Graeco-Roman, Persian, Indian, and Chinese
civilizations; he details the basis for the thriving economy of
premodern Central Eurasia, the economy's disintegration following the
region's partition by the Chinese and Russians in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, and the damaging of Central Eurasian culture by
Modernism; and he discusses the significance for world history of the
partial reemergence of Central Eurasian nations after the collapse of
the Soviet Union.

Empires of the Silk Road places Central Eurasia within a world
historical framework and demonstrates why the region is central to
understanding the history of civilization.

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8882.html

Introduction [HTML] or [PDF]

http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i8882.html
http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i8882.pdf