Susan Whitfield (1) (1960–)

This book explores Life Along the Silk Road through imagined biographies of various different people—a sea-going merchant, a Buddhist nun, a soldier, a princess and more—who lived between roughly the 7th and 10th centuries. Susan Whitfield fleshes out what we can securely know about them, which is generally very little, with contextualising information drawn from documentary and archaeological sources in order to create short biographies that tell us something about a particular moment show more in history. I can see what Whitfield was going for with this approach, in trying to produce something which might engage students more by centering characters rather than more traditional textbook approaches. I'm not sure that the book doesn't fall a bit between two stools as a result, because these are much more potted biographies rather than true narratives. Students may not be gripped, but it should at least be a fairly painless reading experience. show less

An interesting approach to describing life along the Silk Road via fictionalized accounts of different personages: a soldier, a merchant, a courtesan, etc. The book is interesting and filled with minutiae of life and history that the author has gleaned from various period sources. I found its coverage a bit lopsided towards the Chinese end of the road. There is discussion about Central Asia's and Tibet's role in Silk Road history as well, but mainly in the beginning, and there's not enough show more discussion of what occurred later in the Central Asian region as it began to be influenced more and more by Islam. show less

Only mildly interesting, a bit long for reading, but does explain why there is no year of the cat and why cat and rat don't get along.

This book was produced in conjuction with an exhibit at the British Library. The book is well illustrated. Presenting manuscripts, paintings and artifacts as it explores both religious and secular themes and the various languages and cultures of the Silk Road. It is an excellent overview of the many aspects of the Silk Road.