Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Heritage of Central Asia: From Antiquity to the Turkish Expansion (Princeton Series on the Middle East) by Bernard Lewis, Richard N. Freye, Richard Nelson Frye ISBN: 1-55876-110-1 Publisher: Markus Wiener Pub Pub. Date: November, 1996 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $44.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: lukewarm scholarship
Comment: Western 'Orientalists' have a rather poor grasp of certain aspects of Asian history and culture. These mainly pertain to the descriptions of the nature of Asiatic religions and their role in history. This is particularly true of the scholars from reputed institutions such as the Harvard University. This book also suffers from the same problem. The ARYAN invasion is of critical importance to the origin of the principle Asiatic cultures and Indo-European linguistics in general. It has been very poorly treated. The later parts on the Achaemenid and Islamic periods have been better dealt with. The kushans while poorly understood have not been particularly well described in this text.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great Overview of History of Central Asia
Comment: With the publication of Dr. Richard Frye's The Heritage of Central Asia from Antiquity to the Turkish Expansion (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1996, hardcover (ISBN 1558761101 ) and softcover (ISBN 155876111X), 264 pages) at last we have for Central Asia an overview book worth reading by novice and veteran alike. As the title implies, topics in the book include geography, pre-history, Zoroastrianism and Achaemenid Persians, Alexander the Great and the Greeks, the Parthians, nomads, Kushans, Silk Road trade, Buddhism, Sogdians, Muslims, Turks and much more. There are several (somewhat small) maps and a fair number of illustrations and photographs. Appendix topics include sources, geographical names (always a challenge in Central Asia), rulers in Bukhara and Samarkand, Sogdian deities, languages and coinage. The book is fully-indexed. Professor Frye of Harvard University is one of the deans of the field, especially in the area of Persia and author of numerous books including the recently re-published Bukhara. The very real accomplishment of this book is its comprehensive form which for once does not concentrate solely on a single time or place, but instead successfully communicates a feel for what was happening in all the regions throughout these historical periods. Much is to be learned and many questions will be answered. In some areas of research, of course, due to insufficient sources, the jury is still out and Frye does what one wants him to: he sets up the parameters of the question and the possibilities such that when someday new finds are made, the reader can judge them in the proper context. When he speculates, he informs the reader that that is what he is doing and refrains from offering theories without evidence as if they were fact. The conjectures too, as well as the facts, are always interesting coming as they do from a researcher of this stature and experience. Dr. Frye, who met the famous Sir Aurel Stein, first of the Foreign Devils of the Silk Road, and by extension his work, is a link back to the earliest Silk Road research and forward to what may be revealed by future excavations of mummies in Xinjiang and in the newly-independent republics of Central Asia. This book will be a valuable and often-consulted volume in the library of anyone with a passion for the Silk Road.
 |
Title: Discoveries Alexander the Great by Pierre Briant ISBN: 0810928337 Publisher: Harry N. Abrams Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: Life along the Silk Road by Susan Whitfield ISBN: 0520232143 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 06 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
 |
Title: The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'Ang Exotics by Edward Schafer ISBN: 0520054628 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: August, 1985 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: A History of Inner Asia by Svat Soucek ISBN: 0521657040 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 17 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
 |
Title: Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century by Richard C. Foltz ISBN: 0312233388 Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Pub. Date: 02 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
