The New Silk Roads: The Present and Future of the World

3.5* As a stand alone work.

This is a follow on to the outstanding history book 'The Silk Roads'. The idea here is to explore in greater detail the current and future of the 'Silk Road' regions, networks, and framework.

The content and analysis here is excellent, though i found the structure and rationale not so.

The sections where history is again invoked are the strongest as you may imagine, and the writing is first rate throughout. The analysis of today and tomorrow is pertinent, again pushing the long term and global view so refreshing in the original work, juxtaposing it with the twitter-led quick news cycle state of current affairs. One currently dominated by buffoons and parochial matters in the West of course.

Here we run into a few problems - this book is also dominated by the same issues, by constantly stating their overstated importance, it serves to reinforce them. There is simply too much of Trump, and his officials, most of whom have already left office.

This leads to the next issue, i feel this book will date quickly. The original will be brilliant in 20 years, no doubt, i am unsure if this will be of much import by 2020. Many times two sides of a coin are described, but without knowing what way it will land hurts the historical framing that is used.

The entire book could very easily be added as a closing section to the original work, i may be cynical in saying the publishers may have been looking for a way to cash in on an unexpected mainstream success.

I certainly still learnt a lot, and the push to see the world from a more global, non-western and historical perspective remains vital and valid. Would be of great use as a primer to politics/economics/global studies students.