I'm planning to travel the Silk Road (more or less) in the
too-distant future, and I am trying to find books -
travelogues or 'local' literature - that will give me some
background. I've found Lattimore's "Desert Road to
Turkestan" and (forgot the author) "Night Train to
Turkestan," but there must be more out there, or? I've asked
in bookstores and been greeted with blank stares, so I
thought I'd try asking here instead!
And actually, if anyone's got any good lit tips on Mongolia,
I'd appreciate those too.
(I'm not looking for guidebooks.)
Thanks!
Miriam
[There are 15 posts - the latest was added on Wed 12 May, 23:52]
Use the form at the end of this page to add your own post.
Topics
| Thorn Tree
| Home
In case anyone else is looking too, I forgot one other book
I'd found, called "Lost Heart of Asia," don't remember the
author again. It's somewhat more recent (Lattimore is
1927...), this one's 1995 or so, I think. Anyway. Hope to
hear from some other people with reading suggestions!
Miriam
'Into Mongolia' ... http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~greenmcc
Cheers
David
..by Nick Danziger, for more modern day Silk Road stuff.
He's following the path of Islam into the East, but does
much of the Silk Road in the process. He did a sequel too,
but it wasn't anywhere as good as the first.
was a British diplomat earlier this century. A surprisingly
number of British foreign service officers have written
entertaining, accurate, and informative accounts of travels
they made in their area of expertise. John Bagehot Glubb in
the Middle East and Laurens van der Post (South African, but
served for Britain in WWII) are other examples. But MacLean
has a couple of coffee table type books about Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan, etc. One is called "The Back of Beyond" or
something like that. He has written other accounts also,
but I forget the titles. Do search on him. His surname is
either, McLean or MacLean. But the Fitzroy is the giveaway.
Sorry I can't remember some of this stuff, it's been a
while. But I leap every time I find one of his books in a
shop. He had quite a life. Happy searching. Oh, and
Laurens van der Post also had an amazing life. Prince
Charles' favorite author, but don't let that scare you away.
His writing about Bushmen in the Kalahari is nothing short
of lyrical. He wrote a book called "Journey into Russia"
that was pretty good.
I've written-up a personal account of my 'silk road' trip.
overland from China to the Mediterranean. It's longish but
if you'd like it I'll email it as an attachment. Let's know
Hi.. Nice idea. After reading all the above recomendations,
I do not know if this will be interesting for you, but you
can read Gary Jenings "The Traveler" about marco polo┤s
travels. Interestinh and entretaining. Good luck
Mauricio
there is a book 1993? travelling the silk road by rail that
covers china, kazakstan etc. there are also some additional
background books on the chinese side of the silk road
available at china books and periodicals, their e-mail is
info@chinabooks.com
if you want to read some books (not travel guides) here
some titles: a year among the russians of Freya Stark, a
fake derviche to samarkand of erminius vambery, news from
tartary of r. flemming, setting the east ablaze of ??
hopkirk?? , and narurally the fantastic books of ella
maillart: news from tartary.....and the great chinese
travellers (fo hsien / hsuan tsang) edited by jeannette
mirsky bye and enjoy central asia : it's "very paradise".
There is a very good book by Robert D Kaplan called "The
Ends of the Earth". It has very interesting, if not always
flattering, sections on Turkey, Iran and Central Asia, among
other things. Enjoy...
I, too, am planning a trip along the Silk Road and am
looking for literature. One book I found is called Central
Asia: A Traveller's Companion by Kathleen Hopkirk (ISBN 0-
7195-5321-0). It is not a guidebook. It provides the
history and excerpts from travelougues of the regions more
famous travellers. I have not finished it yet, but it is
excellent so far.
Let me know if you find anything else that you recommend,
and I will do the same for you.
Marcello.
I can think of a few: Vikram Seth: "From Heaven Lake", Peter Hopkirk: "Trespassers on the Roof of the World", "The Great Game", and he also wrote another that dealt specifically with foreign collectors who raided some of Xinjiang's treasures but I can't recall the title, William Dalrymple: "In Xanadu: A Quest". All are good reads and informative about the history and culture of the area. I loved "Night Train to Turkestan". It was written by Stuart Stevens who also wrote "Malaria Dreams".
I was born and raised in the capital of Tadjikistan,
Dushanbe. It is admittedly one of the most beutiful cities I
have ever seen, and I have seen a few. Surrounded with
mountains, whose snow caps are quite a striking contrast to
the lush green filled bottom of the valley, where Dushanbe
is located. However it borders afganistan, which is the main
source of all it's problems right now. The influences coming
over the pamir mountains, cause quite a starin between the
constantly shiftin powers of authority and th epeople living
there. Causing a very unsafe enviornment for visitors. I
love my city dont mis undersatnd, but I also have been
forced to move out of it because of the constant civil war
that has been plauging it. So to conclude visit at your own
( very high !) risk.
I've went to silk road and read up quite some books.
I found that this book " Silk road : past and present"
is a particularly good book. Written by "chen muqi" i think.
it relates the ancient silk routes with its present locations and gives relatively good accounts of its history.
Another book which might interest you is " did marco polo go to china?"
read it for a different perspective on this great traveller....
Kinos
The list of books mentioned above mentions most of the best
novels.
The best guide book for The eastern section of the route
(China, Karakoram Highway, bits of Kazakh. and Kyrgyz, and
Tajikistan) is the Cadogan guide titled "The Silk Route" and
written by Peter Neville-Hadley.
From Heaven Lake (Vikram Seth) is a light and fun read (also
try his "A suitable boy" about Indian life for the best
novel of the decade if not the century - it's well worth its
1500 pages).
Enjoy.
Adrian
'Blowing hot and cold through central asia', also called
'extreme continental' is the most down to earth, true yet
humourous account if travel through central asia.