The New Silk Roads

Everything you need to know about the present and future of the world from Sunday Times bestselling author Peter Frankopan

“All roads used to lead to Rome. Today, they lead to Beijing."

When The Silk Roads was published in 2015 it became an instant classic. A major reassessment of world history, it compelled us look at the past from a different perspective. The New Silk Roads brings this story up to date, addressing the present and future of a world that is changing dramatically.

Following the Silk Roads eastwards, from Europe through to China, by way of Russia and the Middle East, The New Silk Roads provides a timely reminder that we live in a world that is profoundly interconnected. In an age of Brexit and Trump, the themes of isolation and fragmentation permeating the Western world stand in sharp contrast to what has been happening along the Silk Roads since 2015, where the story has been about deepening ties and trying to work together. With brilliant insight, Peter Frankopan takes a fresh look at the network of relationships that are being formed along the length and breadth of the Silk Roads today, assessing the global reverberations of these continual shifts in the centre of power – all too often absent from headlines in the west.

This important – and ultimately hopeful – book asks us to re-read who we are and where we are in the world, illuminating the themes on which all our lives and livelihood depend

“This invigorating and profound book has enough storytelling to excite the reader and enough fresh scholarship to satisfy the intellect”

Masterly mapping out of a new world order ... Peter Frankopan has gone up in the world since his bestselling Silk Roads history was published to great acclaim in 2015 - and deservedly so Evening Standard I enjoyed The New Silk Roads. I learnt a great deal about recent developments in Central Asia and elsewhere. Frankopan is a brilliant guide to terra incognita Sunday Times The book is diverting, eclectic and has serious intent. Its thesis that Eurasia is developing a sense of cohesion, largely powered by China's restless ambition, is a sound one The Times Absorbing ... One of the slightly dizzying effects of reading this book is realising the sheer amount of change that has taken place globally in just three years Irish Times Peter Frankopan has written as prescient a modern history as possible ... Frankopan's skill is that he able to step back a few more paces from the world map and global events than most modern commentators, whilst encouraging us to use history as a way of looking forward than regressing into the past If you are only going to read one non-fiction book in the coming year, let it be The New Silk Roads by Dr Frankopan ... This book has all the answers and some more News on Sunday Pakistan Frankopan has written another valuable and idiosyncratic book. He has the gift of perspective - the capacity to see the wood for the trees - which he combines with a Tolstoyan knack for weaving little details into the broader sweep of human affairs Daily Telegraph Peter Frankopan's surprise 2015 bestseller The Silk Roads was a gripping world history that centred on the east. His follow-up The New Silk Roads takes the story right up to the present, as a resurgent China seeks to recreate the old trade routes Prospect Superb BBC An entertaining and carefully researched account of a new Chinese chapter in global history, and one where it finally makes sense to see Eurasia, with Europe at one end and China at the other, as a single connected whole Spectator Filled with an avalanche of remarkable facts ... Peter Frankopan is on a mission to show that the world is no longer all about Europe and the West Het Financieele Dagblad NL Many books have been written that claim to be "A New History of the World". This one fully deserves the title...so ambitious, so detailed and so fascinating The Times Brilliant and fearless ... This is history on a grand scale

Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University where he is also Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College and Director at the Centre for Byzantine Research. He was Schiff Scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge, and Senior Scholar at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He has been Stanley J. Seeger Fellow at Princeton, Scaliger Visiting Professor at Leiden and Presidential Scholar at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. His revised translation of The Alexiad by Anna Komnene was published by Penguin Classics in 2009. He is the author of The First Crusade: The Call from the East (2012) and The Silk Roads: A New History of the World (2015).

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