In his new book, the silk roads, frankopan has created something that forces us to sit up and reconsider the world and the way weve always thought about it. The eastwest trade routes between greece and china began to open during the first and second centuries b. The rise and fall of silk road, the dark webs amazon. The silk museum is housed in the former art school, which trained up artists and designers for the silk industry. The wall street journal this provocative history challenges the view of the west as heir to a pure grecoroman culture. This book is not as advertised a new history of the world, but rather a view of the economic impact of trade on the western world. Macclesfield a silk town small words from a tall fool. Much of the new silk roads is about how chinas road has come to ring the world. Discover the mechanical processes of the jacquard loom. Far more than a history of the silk roads, this book is truly a revelatory new history of the world, promising to destabilize notions of where we come from and.
Silk road came to its dead end on the afternoon of october 1, 20. If the readers curiosity is generally aroused he or she will find another more elaborate tome to satisfy that aroused curiosity. The silk roads is an ambitious project with an incomparable sense of depth, scope, and range that challenges the eurocentrism of mainstream history and strives to. Over 80 countries are now part of the initiative, frankopan points out, encompassing more than 63% of.
Shadow of the silk road by colin thubron, the silk roads. Frankopans gifts as a storyteller is his ability to draw unusual connections across his vast canvas. Frankopan has written a rare book that makes you question your assumptions about the world. With three roman roads meeting nearby, and the river bollin providing water, though little is known about the early history of macclesfield we can suppose that the district was populated well before our written history began. Macclesfield project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Author books in at end of silk road trek cheshire live. Macclesfield museums are home to a wide variety of fascinating collections. A small market town in northeast cheshire with a long history of silk production. The silk museum holds over 1,000 pattern books, 40,000 textiles samples, 300 point. 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 new history of the world is a strangely myopic one for it.
History of silk macclesfield to china silken thread part. Early silk looms were similar to woollen looms, built of wood and operated by hand. Paul wilson, who is originally from the town but now lives in australia, visited sparrow park where a sculpture gifted from china will be placed. A new history of the world by peter frankopan, empires of the silk.
The silk road, a transeurasian network of trade routes connecting east and southeast asia to central asia, india, southwest asia, the mediterranean, and northern europe, which flourished from. The museum is housed in the first sunday school that was opened in england. A new history of the world is a 2015 nonfiction book written by peter frankopan, an english academic at the university of oxford. The silk road is as iconic in world history as the colossus of rhodes or the suez canal.
We read here about his expedition but no analysis relating to the silk road at all. An author who has travelled the length of the silk road made it to macclesfield its western end and his former home town. Hourly history as usual provides the reader with the barest facts regarding the history of the silk road. All loud on the eastern front a bold, if imperfect, study that. With a population of more than 50,000, macclesfield, located in cheshire, is considered the western end of the ancient silk road in europe. Brocklehursts continued long silk spinning in macclesfield until the 1950s. Paul wilson documents links between macclesfield and xian home of the terracotta warriors. Silk spinning became an important industry in congleton. The first book entitled the silk road was by swedish geographer sven hedin in 1938. An ambitious persiancentric rewrite of world history is full of insight but let down by factual errors. For example, how does columbus come to bear on the silk road. The old art school, park lane, macclesfield, cheshire, sk11 6tj.