The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

1. What is the book about as a whole?

It's a historical book that provides context of major global events. There is a focus on the countries of the Middle East.

2. What is being said in detail, and how?

The Silk Road - the trade network going from Asia into Europe - has traditionally been at the forefront of human development. The book uses history to illustrate how the Western-centric view of the world is flawed.

The book is roughly divided into two sections. Here is a short overview of some themes I noticed:

1. Pre-modern history:

• The Silk Road originated from the trade of luxury products like silk from China to the West
• The cities on the road were trading posts for products and ideas
• The development of science, religion, wealth went hand-in-hand - and those happend in the East
• Major religions formed along the Silk Road before spreading
• Slaves were largely traded through the Silk Road
• Europe had mainly furs to offer eastward
• The plague came with the merchants
• Islam formed because of power vacuum when Persia and Byzantium battled
• Post-Roman Europe was not as wealthy as the East; that's why conquerors like Genghis Khan focused on Asia
• The Mongols unified Asia, providing even more trading benefits on the Silk Road
• There was unthinkable wealth in Central Asia, much more than in Europe
• Europe did not hold a leading global role prior the Renaissance

2. Modern history

• The discovery of the Americas shifted the power balance to the West
• First Spain, then England - these empires used colonies to massively profit from natural resources
• Russia expanded and started trading blows with England for control over Asia
• This ultimately led to WWI. The Anglo-Russian balancing act was not resolved so it repeated in WWII
• Oil is the new Silk Road
• British foreign policy was driven by their interest in keeping India and managing Persian oil
• The British ultimately botched their foreign policy - in part because of extreme arrogance and a refusal to treat the locals as equals
• Conflicts in the Middle East made the world economy too turbulent and oil-dependent; the US sought to fill the power vaccuum left by Britain
• Persia was botched by the US, then the US instigated the Iraqi war to install an allied state (but failed)

With all of that background, the author then makes the case that the balance is shifting eastward once again; that supply chains, rare earth and resources like oil inevitably will reorient the power toward the East, once again.

3. Is the book true, in whole or part?

I think the historical background is sound. It's still Western-centric, though to a lesser degree than other historical books I've read. The auther argues that the Silk Road is at the forefront of the historical events; geopolitics follow the control of resources and trade networks.

However, the book seems to gloss over important definitions - for example, what exactly is the Silk Road in modernity? I'm not convinced that it's just a geographical region; there is something unspoken. It could be the culture of that region, or the resources of the region, or the sheer number of people that live there - but can't be just the region. So I can't refute the argument of power shifting eastward. There are examples of power resurging, but I'm not convinced those are the full picture.

Also, I found the book a bit light in providing context on entire regions that were very much on the forefront of the development at some point - specifically China and the Ottoman Empire.

4. What of it?

I did learn a lot of things about the historical context - I remain convinced that Europe experienced a decline relative to Asia in the Middle ages, albeit I don't think this is a novel idea. Here are some things that I learnt:

• Islam formed much later than Christianity. Unlike Christianity and Judaism (slow expansion), Islam exploded across the Arabian peninsula
• There are many cities in Central Asia with very rich history - Baghdad, Babylon, Xi'an, Bukhara, Merv, Samarkand (that I'd like to visit)
• I learnt about the Anglo-Russian feud in Asia - driven by British fears of losing India and Persia
• The complex intricacies between Arab nations and the West - the US seeking an ally, and the mess in Persia/Iran with the UK and the US