By Hussein Bachacha | Staff Writer
Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan.
We all can recall a decent number of bad memories when it comes to history classes at school and possibly now at university. However, history as a subject is never given enough credit for being – lowkey – a real source of entertainment. History is both considered a science and an art, but the latter describes it better, in my opinion. It takes talent to paint an accurate picture of historical events in listeners’ and readers’ minds in an enjoyable manner, all while maintaining a degree of professionalism. This brings us to our article’s star: Peter Frankopan and his magnum opus, Silk Roads.
Having the luxury to look behind to the world’s past, many historians in this contemporary era strived to write a history of the world in an engaging and easy-to-read, yet detailed way. Academics like the Durant couple with their classic “Story of Civilizations”, for example, spent four decades writing 11 volumes worth of world history just to see a new era unfold before their eyes with World War I and World War II. A waste of time? No, of course not. However, this series can never come close to an entertaining novel you’d want to grab along with your cup of coffee in the morning (unless you’re a history nerd like myself, who would still not think of grabbing a 1000-page book after waking up, if I’m being honest). That’s where Peter Frankopan, an academic at Oxford, comes in with his book subtitled “A New History of the World”, which uses the famous Silk Road to explain how civilizations developed throughout history. Starting in ancient Persia, Frankopan narrates in the first chapter the story of the founder of this trade route, Darius II. A personality that practically changed the course of history, this proclaimed “King of Kings” of the ancient Achaemenid empire is dully discussed in history classes at school or in CVSP courses at university. Peter Frankopan, however, doesn’t fail to transform Darius II into a very intriguing individual by engagingly discussing his historical context (which doesn’t undermine the Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations). Subsequently, Frankopan kickstarts the book through an explanation of how this trade route developed into becoming the path religions (like Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam) took to spread, as well as the path goods, precious metals, and slaves took to travel the globe. Unlike his Eurocentric predecessors however, Frankopan can be seen as more of an advocate for the importance of the Middle East, as he makes it out to be the center of the world throughout the book. After recalling across seven chapters insightful and entertaining stories about everyday trading life, Frankopan shifts his focus towards more interesting, yet horrific, events – the Crusades and the Mongols. Being a specialist in Byzantine and medieval history, Frankopan’s genius in this section of the book contributes to the overall understanding of how the world’s political order changed through time. Even though this shift sounds disruptive and incoherent with the book’s theme, Frankopan’s structured and engaging way keeps the readers submersed in the different stories happening in different parts of the world, which consequently makes the book even more unique and addictive. The author’s brilliance doesn’t stop there as each chapter ending introduces a new historical period in the smoothest way possible. Analytical conclusions on how each development contributed to the next, a creative writing style, and an ability to keep the broad historical context in check, all contributed to these smooth transitions. A quick example is seen from chapter 11 to chapter 15 where Frankopan explains the exponential growth of Europe from Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the Americas, its effects on the Middle East and Asia, Northern Europe’s enrichment, Britain’s growth into the biggest empire in history through its colonies’, the industrial revolution, … up until WW2, and ending with the new trade route that leads to the US.
To conclude this brief review, history can be both shared in the most engaging or in the most boring ways possible. Series on Netflix like The Crown, Narcos, or docuseries like How to Become a Tyrant, all reflect how history can be enjoyable – even though many of them are perceived by academics as historical dramas “on steroids”. However, Peter Frankopan, in his “Silk Roads”, embodies how history can be written professionally yet stay “immensely entertaining” (as per a New York Times review). Additionally, Frankopan’s unique writing style helps the reader get enthralled in the diverse cultures of the past while offering a provocative understanding of why societies’ political order developed into their unique forms, and how these developments can be used as lessons for the future.