Synopses & Reviews
To travel the Silk Road, the greatest land route on earth, is to trace the passage not only of trade and armies but also of ideas, religions, and inventions. Making his way by local bus, truck, car, donkey cart, and camel, Colin Thubron covered some seven thousand miles in eight months—out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran into Kurdish Turkey—and explored an ancient world in modern ferment.
Review
“A fantastically descriptive writer, Thubron digs through the history of Central Asia...Perfect for vicarious travelers.” New York magazine
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“An exhausting journey and a marvelous book.” Harper's Magazine
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“Splendid…Sumptuously detailed, elegantly written and riveting...Thubron misses nothing.” Providence Journal
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“Thubron has done it all, with sparkling grace . . . He is a brilliant brooder, artful in his melancholy.” San Francisco Chronicle
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“[Thubron] augments his trenchant narrative with impressive historical background and evocative, lyrical prose…An impressive, rewarding...trek.” Kirkus Reviews
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“Moving in a way thats rare in travel literature...Thubron goes to places most other sojourners cant.” Lorraine Adams, New York Times Book Review
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“[Thubron is] intrepid, resourceful . . . and immensely talented . . . a splendid book.” Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World
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“An illuminating account of a breathtaking journey.” Booklist
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“[An] absorbing travel epic…Thubrons poetic eye still teases out gorgeous subtleties in the panorama.”” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Synopsis
To be travelling the Silk Road is to be travelling the history of the world: tracing the passage not just of trade and armies, but also of ideas, religions and inventions. Thubron's chosen route passes through China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. It is a brilliant account of an ancient world in modern ferment.
Synopsis
In his latest absorbing travel epic, the author of "In Siberia" and "Mirror to Damascus" follows the course--or at least the general drift--of the ancient network of trade routes that connected central China with the Mediterranean Coast.
About the Author
Colin Thubron is an acknowledged master of travel writing. His first books were about the Middle East—Damascus, Lebanon, and Cyprus. In 1982 he traveled in the Soviet Union, pursued by the KGB. From these early experiences developed his great travel books on the landmass that makes up Russia and Asia:
Among the Russians;
Behind the Wall: A Journey through China;
The Lost Heart of Asia;
In Siberia; and most recently,
Shadow of the Silk Road.
Colin Thubron is an award-winning novelist as well as, arguably, the most admired travel writer of our time. He lives in London.