Peter Frankopan

A major reassessment of world history in light of the economic and political renaissance in the re-emerging east - and a fascinating rediscovery of the seductive cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, Isfahan and Constantinople.

The Silk Roads

A Lost History

Climate

*A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK* AN INSTANT #2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Humanity has transformed the Earth: Frankopan transforms our understanding of history' Financial Times 'Vast, learned and timely work' Sunday Times _______________ From the international bestselling author of The Silk Roads comes a major history of how a changing climate has dramatically shaped the development-and demise-of civilisations across time. A 2023 HIGHLIGHT FOR: BBC NEWS * SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE * FINANCIAL TIMES * NEW EUROPEAN * GUARDIAN * NEW STATESMAN * THE TIMES * THE WEEK * WATERSTONES * BLACKWELL'S _______________ When we think about history, we rarely pay much attention to the most destructive floods, the worst winters, the most devastating droughts or the ways that ecosystems have changed over time. In The Earth Transformed, Peter Frankopan, one of the world's leading historians, shows that the natural environment is a crucial, if not the defining, factor in global history – and not just of humankind. Volcanic eruptions, solar activities, atmospheric, oceanic and other shifts, as well as anthropogenic behaviour, are fundamental parts of the past and the present. In this magnificent and groundbreaking book, we learn about the origins of our species: about the development of religion and language and their relationships with the environment; about how the desire to centralise agricultural surplus formed the origins of the bureaucratic state; about how growing demands for harvests resulted in the increased shipment of enslaved peoples; about how efforts to understand and manipulate the weather have a long and deep history. All provide lessons of profound importance as we face a precarious future of rapid global warming. Taking us from the Big Bang to the present day and beyond, The Earth Transformed forces us to reckon with humankind's continuing efforts to make sense of the natural world. ----------------------- 'This is epic, gripping, original history that leaps off the page. I wanted to buy everyone I know a copy' Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland 'All Historians aiming to tell a narrative face the problem of when exactly to start it. Only Peter Frankopan would go back 2.5 billion years to the Great Oxidation Event' Tom Holland

An Untold History

The Earth Transformed

Earth Transformed

From the bestselling author of The Silk Roads comes a new, timely, and visionary book about the dramatic and profound changes our world is undergoing right now--as seen from the perspective of the rising powers of the East. "All roads used to lead to Rome. Now they lead to Beijing." So argues Peter Frankopan in this revelatory new book. In the age of Brexit and Trump, the West is buffeted by the tides of isolationism and fragmentation. Yet to the East, this is a moment of optimism as a new network of relationships takes shape along the ancient trade routes. In The New Silk Roads, Peter Frankopan takes us on an eye-opening journey through the region, from China's breathtaking infrastructure investments to the flood of trade deals among Central Asian republics to the growing rapprochement between Turkey and Russia. This important book asks us to put aside our preconceptions and see the world from a new--and ultimately hopeful--perspective.

The Present and Future of the World

The New Silk Roads

Anna Komnene

E. R. A. Sewter

A revised edition of Anna Komnene's Alexiad, to replace our existing 1969 edition. This is the first European narrative history written by a woman – an account of the reign of a Byzantine emperor through the eyes and words of his daughter which offers an unparalleled view of the Byzantine world in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

The Alexiad

According to tradition, the First Crusade began at Pope Urban II’s instigation and culminated in July 1099, when western European knights liberated Jerusalem. But what if the First Crusade’s real catalyst lay far to the east of Rome? Countering nearly a millennium of scholarship, Peter Frankopan reveals the First Crusade’s untold history.

The Call from the East

The First Crusade

"Our world was made on and by the Silk Roads. For millennia it was here that East and West encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas and cultures, the birth of the world's great religions, the appetites for foreign goods that drove economies and the growth of nations. From the first cities in Mesopotamia to the growth of Greece and Rome to the depredations by the Mongols and the Black Death to the Great Game and the fall of Communism, the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East. The Silk Roads vividly captures the importance of the networks that crisscrossed the spine of Asia and linked the Atlantic with the Pacific, the Mediterranean with India, America with the Persian Gulf. By way of events as disparate as the American Revolution and the horrific world wars of the twentieth century, Peter Frankopan realigns the world, orientating us eastwards, and illuminating how even the rise of the West 500 years ago resulted from its efforts to gain access to and control these Eurasian trading networks. In an increasingly globalized planet, where current events in Asia and the Middle East dominate the world's attention, this magnificent work of history is very much a work of our times"--

a new history of the world

«‹Eine neue Geschichte der Welt› – dieses Buch verdient den Titel voll und ganz.» Peter Frankopan lehrt uns, die Geschichte neu zu sehen – indem er nicht Europa, sondern den Nahen und Mittleren Osten zum Ausgangspunkt macht. Hier entstanden die ersten Hochkulturen und alle drei monotheistischen Weltreligionen; ein Reichtum an Gütern, Kultur und Wissen, der das Alte Europa seit jeher sehnsüchtig nach Osten blicken ließ. Frankopan erzählt von Alexander dem Großen, der Babylon zur Hauptstadt seines neuen Weltreichs machen wollte; von Seide, Porzellan und Techniken wie der Papierherstellung, die über die Handelswege der Region Verbreitung fanden; vom Sklavenhandel mit der islamischen Welt, der Venedig im Mittelalter zum Aufstieg verhalf; von islamischen Gelehrten, die das antike Kulturerbe pflegten, lange bevor Europa die Renaissance erlebte; von der Erschließung der Rohstoffe im 19. Jahrhundert bis hin zum Nahostkonflikt. Schließlich erklärt Frankopan, warum sich die Weltpolitik noch heute in Staaten wie Syrien, Afghanistan und Irak entscheidet. Peter Frankopan schlägt einen weiten Bogen, und das nicht nur zeitlich: Er rückt zwei Welten zusammen, Orient und Okzident, die historisch viel enger miteinander verbunden sind, als wir glauben. Ein so fundiertes wie packend erzähltes Geschichtswerk, das wahrhaft die Augen öffnet.

Eine neue Geschichte der Welt

Licht aus dem Osten

Die Seidenstraßen, die den fernen Osten mit Europa verbanden, waren vor dem Aufstieg des Westens jahrhundertelang die Lebensadern der Welt – und genau das werden sie, wie Peter Frankopan zeigt, auch in Zukunft wieder sein. Die asiatischen Staaten investieren derzeit Milliarden, um die neuen Seidenstraßen zu errichten, und an diesen liegen die Orte, wo künftig die Weichen der globalen Entwicklung gestellt werden: Peking, Delhi, Islamabad, Riad, Moskau. Asien rückt zusammen und drängt immer entschiedener nach Westen. Doch was bedeutet das für uns? Mit der Weitsicht des Globalhistorikers und dem Scharfsinn des politischen Analysten führt uns Frankopan vor Augen, was wir gerade erleben: die Entstehung einer neuen Welt und den Beginn einer neuen Epoche.

Gegenwart und Zukunft unserer Welt

Die neuen Seidenstraßen

Een nieuwe wereldgeschiedenis

De zijderoutes

Klima - eine Menschheitsgeschichte

Zwischen Erde und Himmel

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR: A revolutionary new history that reveals how climate change has dramatically shaped the development—and demise—of civilizations across time *The ebook edition now includes endnotes. Anyone who purchased the book previously can re-download this updated edition and access the notes.* Global warming is one of the greatest dangers mankind faces today. Even as temperatures increase, sea levels rise, and natural disasters escalate, our current environmental crisis feels difficult to predict and understand. But climate change and its effects on us are not new. In a bold narrative that spans centuries and continents, Peter Frankopan argues that nature has always played a fundamental role in the writing of history. From the fall of the Moche civilization in South America that came about because of the cyclical pressures of El Niño to volcanic eruptions in Iceland that affected Egypt and helped bring the Ottoman empire to its knees, climate change and its influences have always been with us. Frankopan explains how the Vikings emerged thanks to catastrophic crop failure, why the roots of regime change in eleventh-century Baghdad lay in the collapse of cotton prices resulting from unusual climate patterns, and why the western expansion of the frontiers in North America was directly affected by solar flare activity in the eighteenth century. Again and again, Frankopan shows that when past empires have failed to act sustainably, they have been met with catastrophe. Blending brilliant historical writing and cutting-edge scientific research, The Earth Transformed will radically reframe the way we look at the world and our future.

the call from the East

Jedwabne szlaki Nowa historia swiata

As Rotas da Seda

Avec son " histoire du coeur du monde ", Peter Frankopan renverse le récit traditionnel de l'histoire, qui gravite autour de la Grèce antique, de Rome, de l'irrésistible ascension de l'Europe, et qui mérite, selonlui, une relecture urgente et approfondie. L'auteur s'attache à élargir la perspective du lecteur. Il tourne son regard vers l'Est, vers " une région à mi-chemin entre Orient et Occident, qui va des rives orientales de la Méditerranée jusqu'à la mer Noire et à l'Himalaya ". C'est là qu'il place le curseur de sa lecture de l'histoire. S'appuyant sur un éventail prodigieux de sources dans au moins une dizaine de langues (depuis Hérodote jusqu'aux dépêches les plus récentes du Département d'Etat américain), le récit balaie une période qui va des campagnes d'Alexandre le Grand jusqu'aux luttes géopolitiques du xxie siècle. Au fil de chapitres rondement menés, il nous livre un formidable travail d'investigation historique pour faire revivre avec intensité de merveilleuses histoires

L'histoire au coeur du monde

Les routes de la soie

  Fundamentată pe o impresionantă documentare și consultare de surse variate (grecești, latine, franceze, italiene, germane, olandeze, spaniole, portugheze, suedeze, ruse, arabe, turce, persane, ebraice, aramaice și chineze), Drumurile mătăsii este o reevaluare majoră a istoriei lumii, din Antichitate până în vremurile moderne.

Drumurile mătăsii. O altfel de istorie a lumii

El corazón que ha movido la historia del mundo, nos dice Peter Frankopan, investigador de la Universidad de Oxford, se encuentra en las tierras de Eurasia que recorrían las rutas de la seda. Allí surgieron los grandes imperios de la antigüedad y las grandes religiones de alcance universal. Allí se han desarrollado las mayores batallas de la historia, desde las conquistas de Alejandro a las dos Guerras Mundiales, pasando por las Cruzadas. Allí se libra también, desde hace más de cien años, la gran guerra por el petróleo que desangra a Oriente Próximo. Dominar este corazón del mundo era el sueño que perseguía Hitler y el que ha enfrentado, desde la guerra de Crimea hasta la actualidad, a Rusia con sus rivales. En un libro original y provocador, basado en una extraordinaria erudición, Peter Frankopan nos propone una nueva visión de la historia, nos descubre relaciones insospechadas entre los hechos del pasado y nos estimula a ver con una mirada distinta los acontecimientos del presente.

Una nueva historia universal

El corazón del mundo

Een revolutionaire kijk op de geschiedenis van klimaatverandering door Peter Frankopan ‘Keer op keer, zo laat Frankopan op overtuigende wijze zien, blijkt het klimaat van invloed te zijn geweest op het verloop van de menselijke geschiedenis.’ ●●●● NRC ‘Een schokkende en haast encyclopedisch alomvattende geschiedenis van de aarde.’ ★★★★★ Doorbraak Wanneer we het over de wereldgeschiedenis hebben, denken we doorgaans niet meteen aan de zwaarste overstromingen, de hardnekkigste droogteperiodes of de veranderende ecosystemen. Maar in de lange geschiedenis van onze planeet is geen element zo allesbepalend geweest als de natuur. Vulkaanuitbarstingen, aardverschuivingen, klimaatveranderingen en andere transformaties hebben een cruciale rol gespeeld in het verloop van de geschiedenis – en zullen ook in de toekomst allesbepalend zijn. In De transformatie van de aarde neemt historicus Peter Frankopan ons mee in een verhaal dat eeuwen en continenten overspant, van vulkaanuitbarstingen in IJsland die het Ottomaanse Rijk op de knieën kregen tot de val van de Moche-beschaving door de opwarming van het zeewater. Hij onderzoekt het ontstaan van religies en talen in relatie tot de natuurlijke omgeving, onze eeuwenlange fascinatie met het begrijpen en manipuleren van weerspatronen en hoe de toenemende vraag naar goede oogsten de slavernij in de hand werkte. Op basis van de meest recente wetenschappelijke ontdekkingen schetst Frankopan een intrigerend beeld van de wereldgeschiedenis waarin het klimaat niet langer in de schaduw staat. Peter Frankopan is hoogleraar Wereldgeschiedenis aan Oxford University. Hij is daar tevens Senior Research Fellow van Worcester College en directeur van het Centre for Byzantine Research. Hij is de auteur van de bestsellers De eerste kruistocht, De zijderoutes en De nieuwe zijderoutes. Zijn boeken zijn in meer dan dertig landen vertaald. De pers over De transformatie van de aarde: ‘Rijk en fascinerend.’ The Guardian ‘De mensheid heeft de aarde getransformeerd. Frankopan transformeert onze kijk op de geschiedenis.’ Financial Times ‘Diepgaand, enerverend en uitstekend onderzocht. Dit boek heeft de intellectuele en dramatische kracht van een tsunami. […] Een eindeloos fascinerend boek en een toegankelijke kijk op een belangrijke kwestie.’ Gerard DeGroot, The Times’ Book of the Week

Peter Frankopan

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