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Synopsis
There was never one Silk Road -- but several. The route chosen by Colin Thubron passes through China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, taking in the most sterile desert on earth (the Taklamakan) and the strife-torn mountain valleys of today's conflicts, as he travels from the tomb of the Yellow Emperor (the mythic progenitor of the Chinese people) to the ancient port of Antioch, by local bus, truck, car -- occasionally Landrover, horse or camel. He covers 7,000 miles in 8 months, and confesses that it is the most difficult, complex and ambitious journey he has undertaken in 40 years of travel.
The Silk Road is a huge network of arteries and veins, splitting and converging across the breadth of Asia. Chinese silk has turned up in the hair of a 10th-century-BC Egyptian mummy; equally, the tartan plaids of 3000-year-old mummies in the Chinese desert echo those of early Celts. To be travelling the Silk Road, writes Colin Thubron, is to be travelling the history of the world: tracing the passage not just of trade and armies, but of ideas, religions and inventions. Yet -- despite the lure of the history -- this book is as much about Asia today. Its themes include different Islams (oppressed in China; fervent in Afghanistan and Iran; cautiously monitored in Uzbekistan); contrast (no cities could be more different than ancient Samarkand and modern Teheran); and the way that today's borders are meaningless because the true boundaries are made by tribe, ethnicity, language and religion.
Shadow of the Silk Road is a brilliant account of an ancient world in modern ferment.
From the Hardcover edition.
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About the Author
Colin Thubron was born in London in 1939. He left publishing to travel -- mainly in Asia and North Africa, where he made documentary films which were shown on BBC and world television. Afterwards, he returned to the Middle East, and wrote five books on the Area. In 1984, the Book Marketing Council nominated him one of the twenty best contemporary writers on travel.
From the Hardcover edition.
From AudioFile
Jonathan Keeble gives a superb reading of this captivating account of a 7,000-mile, eight-month journey from Xian, China, to Antioch, Turkey, along the ancient silk route. Traveling by foot, camel, taxi, truck, train, and cart, Thubron sleeps in yurts, mud huts, vermin-infested inns, and six-bunk train compartments as he traces the routeÕs history and encounters its present. Speaking Mandarin, Russian, and English, he talks with a colorful array of locals belonging to many countries, tribes, clans, and religious groups. Keeble captures the conversations vividly and paces the reading so that listeners hear every exhausted step, rail at each bribe-hungry petty bureaucrat, and thrill to the magnificence of the scenery. An amazing adventure, expertly told. R.E.K.Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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- PublisherVintage Books
- Publication date2007
- ISBN 10 0099437228
- ISBN 13 9780099437222
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages384
- Rating
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Paperback. Condition: USED_VERYGOOD. A journey along the greatest land route on earth, from the master of travel writing Colin Thubron On buses, donkey carts, trains, jeeps and camels, Colin Thubron traces the drifts of the first great trade route out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran into Kurdish Turkey. Covering over 7000 miles in eight months Thubron recounts extraordinary adventures - a near-miss with a drunk-driver, incarceration in a Chinese cell during the SARS epidemic, undergoing root canal treatment without anaesthetic in Iran - in inimitable prose. Shadow of the Silk Road is about Asia today; a magnificent account of an ancient world in modern ferment. 'It is hard to think of a better travel book written this century' Times 'Thubron is the pre-eminent travel writer of his generation' Sunday Telegraph. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR001210857
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