The first complete history of Central Eurasia from ancient times to the present day, Empires of the Silk Road represents a fundamental rethinking of the origins, history, and significance of this major world region. Christopher Beckwith describes the rise and fall of the great Central Eurasian empires, including those of the Scythians, Attila the Hun, the Turks and Tibetans, and Genghis Khan and the Mongols. In addition, he explains why the heartland of Central Eurasia led the world economically, scientifically, and artistically for many centuries despite invasions by Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Chinese, and others. In retelling the story of the Old World from the perspective of Central Eurasia, Beckwith provides a new understanding of the internal and external dynamics of the Central Eurasian states and shows how their people repeatedly revolutionized Eurasian civilization. Beckwith recounts the Indo-Europeans' migration out of Central Eurasia, their mixture with local peoples, and the resulting development of the Graeco-Roman, Persian, Indian, and Chinese civilizations; he details the basis for the thriving economy of premodern Central Eurasia, the economy's disintegration following the region's partition by the Chinese and Russians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the damaging of Central Eurasian culture by Modernism; and he discusses the significance for world history of the partial reemergence of Central Eurasian nations after the collapse of the Soviet Union.Empires of the Silk Road places Central Eurasia within a world historical framework and demonstrates why the region is central to understanding the history of civilization. Read more

Destiny Disrupted, “a must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the Islamic world,” (San Francisco Chronicle) tells the history of the world from the Islamic point of view, and restores the centrality of the Muslim perspective, ignored for a thousand years. In Destiny Disrupted, Tamim Ansary tells the rich story of world history with the evolution of the Muslim community at the center. His story moves from the lifetime of Mohammed through a succession of far-flung empires, to the tangle of modern conflicts that culminated in the events of 9/11. He introduces the key people, events, ideas, legends, religious disputes, and turning points of world history, imparting not only what happened but how it is understood from the Muslim perspective. He clarifies why two great civilizations—Western and Muslim—grew up oblivious to each other, what happened when they intersected, and how the Islamic world was affected by its slow recognition that Europe—a place it long perceived as primitive—had somehow hijacked destiny. With storytelling brio, humor, and evenhanded sympathy to all sides of the story, Ansary illuminates a fascinating parallel to the narrative usually heard in the West. Destiny Disrupted offers a vital perspective on world conflicts many now find so puzzling. Read more

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A stunning exploration of the Greater Middle East, where lasting stability has often seemed just out of reach but may hold the key to the shifting world order of the twenty-first century“Engaging . . . Even those who resist Kaplan’s tragic sensibility have much to learn from his look at the emerging Middle East and its recent history.”—National Review The Greater Middle East, which Robert D. Kaplan defines as the vast region between the Mediterranean and China, encompassing much of the Arab world, parts of northern Africa, and Asia, existed for millennia as the crossroads of empire: Macedonian, Roman, Persian, Mongol, Ottoman, British, Soviet, American. But with the dissolution of empires in the twentieth century, postcolonial states have endeavored to maintain stability in the face of power struggles between factions, leadership vacuums, and the arbitrary borders drawn by exiting imperial rulers with little regard for geography or political groups on the ground. In the Loom of Time, Kaplan explores this broad, fraught space through reporting and travel writing to reveal deeper truths about the impacts of history on the present and how the requirements of stability over anarchy are often in conflict with the ideals of democratic governance. In The Loom of Time, Kaplan makes the case for realism as an approach to the Greater Middle East. Just as Western attempts at democracy promotion across the Middle East have failed, a new form of economic imperialism is emerging today as China's ambitions fall squarely within the region as the key link between Europe and East Asia. As in the past, the Greater Middle East will be a register of future great power struggles across the globe. And like in the past, thousands of years of imperial rule will continue to cast a long shadow on politics as it is practiced today. To piece together the history of this remarkable place and what it suggests for the future, Kaplan weaves together classic texts, immersive travel writing, and a great variety of voices from every country that all compel the reader to look closely at the realities on the ground and to prioritize these facts over ideals on paper. The Loom of Time is a challenging, clear-eyed book that promises to reframe our vision of the global twenty-first century. Read more

A land of enormous proportions, countless secrets, and incredible history, Central Asia was the heart of the great Mongol empire of Tamerlane and scene of Stalin's cruelest deportations. A remote and fascinating region in a constant state of transition—never more so than since the collapse of the Soviet Union—it encompasses terrain as diverse as the Kazakh steppes, the Karakum desert, and the Pamir mountains. In The Lost Heart of Asia, acclaimed, bestselling travel writer Colin Thubron carries readers on an extraordinary journey through this little understood, rarely visited, yet increasingly important corner of the world. Read more

How Genghis Khan and the Mongols conquered nearly one-sixth of the planet: “The fascinating story of history’s most misunderstood empire builders.” —Alan Axelrod, bestselling author of Miracle at Belleau WoodEmerging out of the vast steppes of Central Asia in the early 1200s, the Mongols, under their ferocious leader, Genghis Khan, quickly carved out an empire that by the late thirteenth century covered almost one-sixth of the Earth’s landmass—from Eastern Europe to the eastern shore of Asia—and encompassed 110 million people. Far larger than the much more famous domains of Alexander the Great and ancient Rome, it has since been surpassed in overall size and reach only by the British Empire.The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in the World recounts the spectacularly rapid expansion and dramatic decline of the Mongol realm, while examining its real, widespread, and enduring influence on countless communities from the Danube River to the Pacific Ocean.“Great sweeping history from a superb writer.” —Joseph Cummins, author of The War Chronicles“A skillful and imaginative storyteller and conscientious historian.” —David Willis McCullough, author of Wars of the Irish Kings Read more

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Explore the wonders of wild Mongolia through the eyes of a distinguished field biologist Mongolia became a satellite of the Soviet Union in the mid-1920s, and for nearly seven decades effectively closed its doors to the outside world. Biologist George Schaller initially visited the country in 1989, and was one of the first Western scientists allowed to study and assess the conservation status of Mongolia’s many unique, native wildlife species. Schaller made a number of trips from 1989 to 2018 in collaboration with Mongolian and American scientists, witnessing Mongolia’s recovery and transition to a market economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This informative and fascinating new book provides a firsthand account of Schaller’s time in this little-known and remote country, where he studied and helped develop conservation initiatives for the snow leopard, Gobi bear, wild camel, and Mongolian gazelle, among other species. Featuring magnificent photographs from his travels, the book offers a critical, at times inspiring contribution for those who treasure wildlife, as well as a fresh perspective on the natural beauty of the region, which encompasses steppes, mountains, and the Gobi Desert. Read more

Cundill Prize FinalistA Financial Times Book of the YearA Spectator Book of the YearA Five Books Book of the YearThe Mongols are known for one thing: conquest. But in this first comprehensive history of the Horde, the western portion of the Mongol empire that arose after the death of Chinggis Khan, Marie Favereau takes us inside one of the most powerful engines of economic integration in world history to show that their accomplishments extended far beyond the battlefield. Central to the extraordinary commercial boom that brought distant civilizations in contact for the first time, the Horde had a unique political regime—a complex power-sharing arrangement between the khan and nobility—that rewarded skillful administrators and fostered a mobile, innovative economic order. From their capital on the lower Volga River, the Mongols influenced state structures in Russia and across the Islamic world, disseminated sophisticated theories about the natural world, and introduced new ideas of religious tolerance.An eloquent, ambitious, and definitive portrait of an empire that has long been too little understood, The Horde challenges our assumptions that nomads are peripheral to history and makes it clear that we live in a world shaped by Mongols.“The Mongols have been ill-served by history, the victims of an unfortunate mixture of prejudice and perplexity…The Horde flourished, in Favereau’s fresh, persuasive telling, precisely because it was not the one-trick homicidal rabble of legend.”—Wall Street Journal“Fascinating…The Mongols were a sophisticated people with an impressive talent for government and a sensitive relationship with the natural world…An impressively researched and intelligently reasoned book.”—The Times Read more

"A Mongolian Game of Thrones!" – Katherine Roberts, author of Prince of the Wolves: The Legend of Genghis KhanGenghis Khan united a nation and created a vast empire for his heirs. But after 200 years of civil war, his empire has fallen into the dark ages.Mandukhai dreams of being a fierce warrior woman, but her dreams are shattered when she is forced to become the second wife to the Great Khan.Unebolod spent his life in the Great Khan's shadow, preparing for a day when he can seize control of the empire. But when he forms a dangerous alliance with Mandukhai, it swiftly transforms into a passion that could destroy them both.Just as the two are certain their fate will one day bring them together and make Unebolod the next Great Khan, a young prince surfaces to steal the Great Khan's attention and the hearts of the nation.Daughter of the Yellow Dragon is the first book in a gripping, gritty historical fiction series based on the epic life of one of the most underrated women in history. The series draws you into a world of brutal Mongol steppe life, deadly political games, and supernatural beliefs.Please be advised: This book contains adult situations, graphic violence, assault, and personal loss.PINNACLE BOOK ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER!Daughter of the Yellow Dragon is the Winter 2021 NABE Pinnacle Book Achievement Award Winner for Outstanding Historical Fiction. Read more

An account of the USSR’s defeat in Afghanistan drawing on many interviews with Soviet veterans: “Fascinating. . . . A highly readable history of the conflict.” —The New York Times Book ReviewIn this groundbreaking account of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, former NPR Moscow correspondent Gregory Feifer vividly depicts the war that contributed greatly to the demise of the USSR, and that offers striking lessons for the twenty-first century as well. Told primarily from the perspective of the Russians who fought it, The Great Gamble offers valuable insight into the history of Afghanistan’s troubled government and the rise of the mujahideen and Al-Qaeda. “Feifer has done truly extraordinary research . . . For all its heft, [The Great Gamble] is an effortless read—an unusual and gratifying combination.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune“A provocative and important book, telling us what the Soviet military was thinking and feeling as it lost its war in Afghanistan. Gregory Feifer vividly shows that their campaigns there amounted to a manual of how not to do it.” —Thomas Ricks, author of Fiasco“Thoughtful, deliberative use of eyewitness testimony gives an intensely close-up sense of what the war was like for those who fought it.” —Kirkus Reviews“Brings to life in spirited detail the bloody, eight-year struggle that killed a million Afghans and tens of thousands of Russians and broke the back of the Soviet Union, which disappeared within two years of the war’s end. You think it can’t happen to us? Read Feifer.” —Thomas Powers, Pulitzer Prize-winner and author of Heisenberg’s War Read more

From William Dalrymple—award-winning historian, journalist and travel writer—a masterly retelling of what was perhaps the West’s greatest imperial disaster in the East, and an important parable of neocolonial ambition, folly and hubris that has striking relevance to our own time. With access to newly discovered primary sources from archives in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia and India—including a series of previously untranslated Afghan epic poems and biographies—the author gives us the most immediate and comprehensive account yet of the spectacular first battle for Afghanistan: the British invasion of the remote kingdom in 1839. Led by lancers in scarlet cloaks and plumed helmets, and facing little resistance, nearly 20,000 British and East India Company troops poured through the mountain passes from India into Afghanistan in order to reestablish Shah Shuja ul-Mulk on the throne, and as their puppet. But after little more than two years, the Afghans rose in answer to the call for jihad and the country exploded into rebellion. This First Anglo-Afghan War ended with an entire army of what was then the most powerful military nation in the world ambushed and destroyed in snowbound mountain passes by simply equipped Afghan tribesmen. Only one British man made it through.But Dalrymple takes us beyond the bare outline of this infamous battle, and with penetrating, balanced insight illuminates the uncanny similarities between the West’s first disastrous entanglement with Afghanistan and the situation today. He delineates the straightforward facts: Shah Shuja and President Hamid Karzai share the same tribal heritage; the Shah’s principal opponents were the Ghilzai tribe, who today make up the bulk of the Taliban’s foot soldiers; the same cities garrisoned by the British are today garrisoned by foreign troops, attacked from the same rings of hills and high passes from which the British faced attack. Dalryrmple also makes clear the byzantine complexity of Afghanistan’s age-old tribal rivalries, the stranglehold they have on the politics of the nation and the ways in which they ensnared both the British in the nineteenth century and NATO forces in the twenty-first. Informed by the author’s decades-long firsthand knowledge of Afghanistan, and superbly shaped by his hallmark gifts as a narrative historian and his singular eye for the evocation of place and culture, The Return of a King is both the definitive analysis of the First Anglo-Afghan War and a work of stunning topicality. Read more

It is rare for an individual in history to have successfully made such a mark on their world that people are still talking about them centuries after their death. When you consider the number of people that have existed throughout the millennia that have wielded some kind of power, it takes a remarkable individual to stand out from the crowd. Nevertheless, one such individual did manage to achieve this near-impossible feat of attaining everlasting fame: Genghis Khan. This single person from the relative confines of Mongolia is credited with creating one of the most feared empires that ever existed. When you learn more about his story, the very fact that he achieved so much becomes even more remarkable than you may have at first thought. Genghis Khan was a leader that was ruthless in his aims and ambitions, a man who thought nothing of destroying everything in his path. His reputation of extreme brutality sent villagers running from their homes when they got even a hint that Genghis Khan was coming their way. But is that the entire story? Was he as bad as history has made him out to be? This was an individual who established an empire that survived for more than a century after his demise, and it did so to such an extent that it was the longest continual empire to have ever been created in the history of the world. A wonderful battlefield commander, a prime tactician, he had a need to conquer the world that shaped this man into a fearless leader that would ultimately go on to shape what we now know as the modern world. In his book entitled Genghis Khan: The Ruthless Legacy, Great Mongol Empire, and the Making of the Modern World author Cameron White deeply chronicles how Genghis Khan with fierce determination was able to rise from the ashes of the devastation of his early years to become one of the most remarkable and ruthless leaders of all time. Read more

NASA research of earth-moon mechanics by late astrophysicist Robert Newton leads mathematicians of MSU to a breakthrough in the consensual chronology and history of Eurasia. 'The Issue with Mongols' is that this small nomade tribe did not know till XX century how great a power they were once. Nor did Mongols know who Great Ghengis Khan was and how he has conquered Eurasia, Russia, China, the whole works.Back in 1879 Mr. Prejevalsky, colonel of Russian cavalry made two major discoveries Gobi Desert, i.e. in Mongolia: for the first, a small wild undomesticated horse, for the second, a case of collective amnesia of the Mongols people. who ignored how great a power they were once.Nobody in the nomade tribe called Mongols couldn't either read, no write and did not know till colonel told them so, how great a world power they were once. Nor did Mongols know who the character Great Ghengis Khan was and how he has conquered Eurasia, Russia, China, the whole works.Actually, in old Russian language « horde » means army. Consequently, the Mongolian Horde was merely the ancient Russian army. According to the official version of history, Russia remained under the political and military yoke of the Mongols for many centuries on end.The term “Mongol” is usually assumed to have always meant the same thing – however, this turns out to be incorrect; the modern interpretation is of a relatively recent origin. Bear in mind that Mongolia didn’t exist as an independent state until the revolution of 1917 in Russia!The word “Mongol” comes from Russian 'mnogo' simply meaning 'a lot, "numerous" or “Great One” – its association with the nomadic tribes hailing from the steppes north of China is a later invention. But why did it have to be invented?The reason is simple: the actual “Mongol conquerors of Russia” never existed. The yoke theory was created by the court German historians of the new Russian dynasty, the Romanovs. The Mongol yoke theory has served the end of justifying the Romanovs’ claims for the throne and demonizing their longtime adversaries – the Horde, or the professional Russian army, which remained fiercely loyal to the old Russian dynasty, deposed and finally destroyed by the Romanovs as a result of a conspiracy.The savage invaders and torturers of the Russian land that we read about in history textbooks were the protectors of the state in reality – and ethnic Slavs for the most part. Small wonder historians still cannot find a single trace of the mythical Mongol capital – no such capital ever existed anywhere near the Gobi Desert.Dr Fomenko et al are ready to recognize their alleged mistakes of New Chronology theory, to repent and to retract if and only if:- radiocarbon dating methods or dendrochronology pass the clear rigorous anonymous 'black box' tests;- astronomic data refutes their own results on solar eclipses;- it is proven irrefutably that Robert Newton (NASA astrophysicist) was wrong calling in his 'Crime of Claudius Ptolemy' 'ancient' Ptolemy the « greatest conman in history » ;At present historians heed well the prescient advice of Saint Augustin "..beware of mathematicians, especially when they speak the truth! " - and are not willing to apply exact sciences toolbox. Beware of the Occam's razor as their beautiful web of lies is too fragile. The radiocarbon dating labs run their very costly tests only if is the sample to be dated is accompanied with an idea of age pronounced by historians based on...subjective..mmm...gut-feeling and the history books they have been writing for the last 400 years. Radiocarbon labs happily bill for their fiddling and finetuning with C14 hardware to get the dates 'to order' of historians in line with their consensual chronology. Circulus Vicious is perfect. Connect the dots... See https://evilempire.blog/ Read more

On the steppes of Central Asia in the Fourth Millennium B.C., the 'Ur are the most powerful of the Kurgan clans. This has been so since Adin's grandfather, Ja, became the first man in history to tame and ride a horse. But Ja has died, and a raid on his burial mound by Scythians has led to a blood feud between Dahig, the schion of their ruling clan, and Adin, the young, soon-to-be-leader of the 'Ur. But Adin's wife, Fi'Me, is practicing the dark arts and Adin, leery of her sorcery, takes their young son and his childhood sweetheart and embarks on a journey of discovery and to find the "place that is calling him from the ground".Traveling from one kurgan tribe to the next, Adin spreads the skill of horse riding and the deep and rich history of their tribe. But Dahig is never far behind, and as Adin searches for the place of his destiny, he also knows that the Scythians will stop at nothing to satisfy their lust for vengeance. Intent on building a new city, Adin must prepare his followers for the ultimate battle, an epic strubble where there will only be life. . .or death. Read more

The bestselling true story of a Texas congressman’s secret role in the Afghan defeat of Russian invaders is “a tour de force of reporting and writing” (Dan Rather).   A New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times bestseller.   Charlie Wilson’s penchant for cocktails and beauty-contest winners was well known, but in the early 1980s, the dilettante congressman quietly conducted one of the most successful covert operations in US history. Using his seat on the House Appropriations Committee, Wilson channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to support a ragged band of Afghan “freedom fighters” in their resistance against Soviet invaders.   Weapons were secretly procured and distributed with the help of an outcast CIA operative named Gust Avrakotos, who stretched the agency’s rules to the breaking point. Moving from the back rooms of Washington to secret chambers at Langley, and from arms-dealers’ conventions to the Khyber Pass, Wilson and Avrakotos helped the mujahideen win an unlikely victory against the Russians.   Adapted into a film starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War chronicles an overlooked chapter in the collapse of the Soviet Union—and the emergence of a brand-new foe in the form of radical Islam.   “Put the Tom Clancy clones back on the shelf; this covert-ops chronicle is practically impossible to put down. No thriller writer would dare invent Wilson.” —Publishers Weekly   “An engaging, well-written, newsworthy study of practical politics and its sometimes unlikely players, and one with plenty of implications.” —Kirkus Reviews Read more

Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan became free of the Soviet Union in 1991. But though they are new to modern statehood, this is a region rich in ancient history, culture, and landscapes unlike anywhere else in the world. Traveling alone, Erika Fatland is a true adventurer in every sense. In Sovietistan, she takes the reader on a compassionate and insightful journey to explore how their Soviet heritage has influenced these countries, with governments experimenting with both democracy and dictatorships. In Kyrgyzstani villages, she meets victims of the tradition of bride snatching; she visits the huge and desolate nuclear testing ground "Polygon" in Kazakhstan; she meets shrimp gatherers on the banks of the dried out Aral Sea; she travels incognito through Turkmenistan, as it is closed to journalists, and she meets German Mennonites that found paradise on the Kyrgyzstani plains 200 years ago. We learn how ancient customs clash with gas production and witness the underlying conflicts in new countries building their futures in nationalist colors. Once the frontier of the Soviet Union, life follows another pace of time. Amidst the treasures of Samarkand and the brutalist Soviet architecture, Sovietistan is a rare and unforgettable travelogue. Read more

"There is no travel writer working today in English who possesses such a remarkable combination of the observant and the lyric gifts--the most poetic of us all."  — Jan MorrisThe first book in Thubron's Russian trilogy AMONG THE RUSSIANS, called "superb" by the New York Times Book Review, recounts Thurbon's 10,000 mile journey throughout half of Russia's cities and countryside.Here is a fresh perspective on the last tumultuous years of the Soviet Union and an exquisitely poetic travelogue. With a keen grasp of Russia's history, a deep appreciation for its architecture and iconography, and an inexhaustible enthusiasm for its people and its culture, Colin Thubron is the perfect guide to a country most of us will never get to know firsthand. Here, we can walk down western Russia's country roads, rest in its villages, and explore some of the most engaging cities in the world. Beautifully written and infinitely insightful, Among the Russians is vivid, compelling travel writing that will also appeal to readers of history and current events—and to anyone captivated by the shape and texture of one of the world's most enigmatic cultures. Read more

The Great Game refers to the hundred year geostrategic contest between Britain and Russia for control of Eurasia in the 19th century. The arena for the Great Game was all the lands, kingdoms and nations between the two Empires. At the beginning of the Great Game the territories of British India and Tsarist Russia were separated by a distance of almost 1,500 miles. At the end, all that remained between the two was Afghanistan - which at its narrowest, was a sliver of a 15 mile corridor, agreed upon mutually by the two behemoths to keep them apart. Afghanistan emerged as a modern nation, with its current territorial form, during the era of the Great Game. As a frontier state, Afghanistan was the stage on which the most powerful actors in this greatest geopolitical drama in the history of the world played their roles and left lasting legacies which resonate even in our age. The nationalist historiography of Afghanistan traces the origins of modern Afghanistan to 1747, the year in which Ahmad Shah Abdali established the Durrani Empire with its capital at Kabul. The British Colonial State was emerged as a power in South Asia not much later, when the East India Company acquired territorial rights in Bengal, after the Battle of Plassey, in 1757. The first official, diplomatic contact between the two was established in 1809. In the interceding half century or so, the Durrani Empire had expanded up to the borders of Delhi and subsequently shrunk to a much smaller core around the twin capitals of Kabul and Peshawar, after which the British Colonial State itself expanded to incorporate not just Delhi, but also territories beyond. By the middle of the 19th century, the British Colonial State had expanded its borders further north, across the Punjab, defeating and annexing the Sikh Empire. From 1849 onwards, Afghanistan and the British in India were geopolitical neighbours and rivals. The book traces the interactions between Afghanistan and the emerging British power in India, from the first contacts to the construction of the final territorial form of the region which come to be known as British India’s northwest frontier. * Excerpt: In 1808, the Governor General of the East India Company despatched three embassies from India to secure a system of alliances with one single purpose: to prevent the march of an overseas army from Europe through the southern quadrant of Middle Asia into India. At the turn of the 19th century, the spectre of Europe cast a shadow of unease over Asia. After the collapse of the French Revolution, Europe had been gripped by war as French armies led Napoleon Bonaparte marched across European frontiers. While the wars in Europe are beyond the scope of this essay, their effect on Asian diplomacy and strategic thought about the defence of India is important. In 1798, France had invaded Egypt. Was there a possibility of an invasion of India? Napoleon Bonaparte had, after all, openly proclaimed his intention of forging a pan-Asian Empire. (“I was full of dreams… I saw myself founding a new religion, marching into Asia riding on an elephant, a turban on my head and in my hands the new Koran I would have written to suit my needs.” - Napoleon.) Ultimately, the French fleet in the Mediterranean was destroyed by a British naval fleet even as the threats of continental war in Europe continued to rage. If there ever was to be a French invasion of India from Egypt, the plausible route would have been through the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. Or, overland, through Persia, possibly across Afghanistan, and further through Punjab or Sind. The three embassies were tasked with building an alliance system to prevent this, and secure India’s frontiers for the British Colonial State of the East India Company. (Excerpt from Chapter 2) * ABOUT THE AUTHOR G.S. Goraya is Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Geopolitics at the Department of Political Science, Panjab University, India. Read more