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Christopher I. Beckwith. Empires Of The Silk Road: A History Of Central Eurasia From The Bronze Age To The Present Day. Princeton And Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2011., Constance Wilkinson

Comparative Civilizations Review

Empires of the Silk Road is an ambitious work that fulfills its stated ambitions, fully. Written with boldness and authority, it packs many punches and pulls few. Author Christopher I. Beckwith manages to cover ~5,000-years-worth of Central Eurasian history in this single volume; he sees those events differently than your common or garden-variety Central Eurasian historian/philologist and demonstrates patiently and precisely why he does so in a way that is rich and insightful. Beckwith’s work is both complex and concise. It is provocative and persuasive. It is frequently captivating, often surprising, occasionally perplexing, and sometimes slightly weird 1 (not that …