Ebook The New Silk Roads The Present and Future of the World Audible Audio Edition Peter Frankopan Leighton Pugh Random House Audio Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 6 hours and 44 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher Random House Audio Audible.com Release Date March 26, 2019 Language English, English ASIN B07ND3Q61P

The New Silk Roads The Present and Future of the World Audible Audio Edition Peter Frankopan Leighton Pugh Random House Audio Books Reviews

• I enjoyed reading the author's first book, the silk road, and followed up immediately with this book. Big mistake.
  
  This book reads like a political commentary catered to readers with strong negative feelings toward the current US administration. The emphasis would be justified if brexit, Trump, and other similar events in the past few years turned out to be historical pivotal events, but we do not know, and this is a question best left to future generations of historians.
  
  As a fan of his first book, I wished he did not write this book. There are plenty of books on China's ambitions, there are plenty of books arguing for and against the current US adminstration, and there are no shortage of books on the US China relationship. This book adds neither new material nor insights. Other than the catchy title, I don't recall learning anything from reading this book.
• This is today's and tomorrow's front page news, but it isn't talked about much because other news steals the spotlight. Read it now.
• Frankopan updates his previous book with developments mainly about the Belt and Road Initiative. It’s a good attempt at making the material current, but he need not have done so. He could have done much better by emphasising how the Belt and Road Initiative is a modern continuation of old patterns or fulfilling the old dreams of connecting the East with the West. And what about the US, which is a late interloper in this game? Otherwise an excellent book.
• I read this second Silk Roads book with the same fascination I gave the first one. wondering as I went along why the second one did not receive the raves of the first. Finally in the final chapter I realized the subject matter was current history and contained information the reader did not want to read about.
• A nice continuation of the Silk Roads book, readable and timely book that helps you understand how history is unraveling in our time
• Nothing
• When asked about the significance of the French Revolution, it is said that Zhou Enlai responded “it was to early to tell”. It’s unclear whether this is an actual quote or just an urban myth. However, I feel that the thought could well apply to Peter Frankopan’s new book, “The New Silk Roads”.
  
  Peter Frankopan’s original work, “The Silk Roads”, published in 2016 was a masterpiece of history. It opened the eyes of Western readers to the fact that there is more to the world than just the history of Europe and, later, the new world. Too many western readers think that world history broadly covers the Roman Empire, Dark Ages, Crusades, the discovery of the new world, the US Civil War, two World Wars and then victory for the west in the Cold War. Frankopan shows this to be so myopic. There is a vast history to China and central Asia that too many students do not study. This is a great shame as it seems that the arc of history is bending back away from the west to the east. Indeed, this is the purpose of Frankopan’s new book.
  
  Despite the strength of the argument, to write a “sequel” only two years after the original books is overly ambitious to say the least. A longer perspective is required. In other words, while the world economy may be increasingly dominated by China and the east, it is too early to conclude that this is inevitable.
  
  While Frankopan’s book is well written and a delight to read, we need more time to develop any firm conclusions. Having said this, I would still recommend both books to any reader with an interest in world history. Both books are provocative. Both books challenge orthodoxies. For this alone, Peter Frankopan must be commended.
• I'm a huge fan of Frankopan's previous Silk Roads book. I bought "The New Silk Roads" early and at full price wanting to support an author of demonstrated quality -- whoops.
  
  It's hard for me to comprehend this is the same author. This book reads as a collection of, often stale, current events. Any facts are left at surface level and any analysis ends with a snarky one-liner. That's the best half of it, anyway. The last half is dedicated to Trump and that horse is beat up until the final page. Well, so much for the Silk Roads. A disappointing effort -- unfortunately not worth the money or even the time.