Shadow of the Silk Road (Paperback)
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Description
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.
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.
Praise for Shadow of the Silk Road…
“Moving in a way that’s rare in travel literature...Thubron goes to places most other sojourners can’t.”
-Lorraine Adams, New York Times Book Review
“[Thubron is] intrepid, resourceful . . . and immensely talented . . . a splendid book.”
-Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World
“Thubron has done it all, with sparkling grace . . . He is a brilliant brooder, artful in his melancholy.”
-San Francisco Chronicle
“An exhausting journey and a marvelous book.”
-Harper's Magazine
“A fantastically descriptive writer, Thubron digs through the history of Central Asia...Perfect for vicarious travelers.”
-New York magazine
“An illuminating account of a breathtaking journey.”
-Booklist
“[An] absorbing travel epic…Thubron’s poetic eye still teases out gorgeous subtleties in the panorama.””
-Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“[Thubron] augments his trenchant narrative with impressive historical background and evocative, lyrical prose…An impressive, rewarding...trek.”
-Kirkus Reviews
“Splendid…Sumptuously detailed, elegantly written and riveting...Thubron misses nothing.”
-Providence Journal