In 1989 the government introduced the National Curriculum for primary and secondary schools. In history it dictated what units should be taught. Thus I learnt (and taught) about the Indus Valley and the ancient civilisation of Benin, neither of which I had even heard of earlier. However, as far as British history went, most teachers thought there were some distinct weirdnesses. The 18th century was basically absent as well as the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805…sorry about that Nelson. The vast majority of children today would have no idea that Britain once ruled America or that there was a war of independence. As for the French Revolution, well you might touch on that if you chose to do A level. The other thing that was strange was the total lack of chronology. Teachers were not required to teach the units in any particular order thus any sense of causality was lost. You could not make connections and explain that this event happened because of what had come earlier.
I am now coming to the book, promise. ‘The Silk Roads’ by Peter Frankopan is a satisfying wonder. Satisfying for several reasons, the main one of which is order and chronology. It is subtitled ‘ A new history of the world’ and it is also illustrated gorgeously and sensitively.
The writer Peter Frankopan (Croatian heritage there, I looked it up,) is so well steeped in his subject that it is difficult to know where to begin. Suffice it to say that he is the professor of global history at Oxford and director of the Silk Roads programme at King’s College Cambridge. There is plenty more of similar ilk! In the introduction he says that as a child he had always wanted to know how the history of Britain fitted into the history of the world and school made no attempt to teach him that. He writes: ‘To understand the world of today and tomorrow, you need to understand the world of yesterday. And to do that, the best place to start is at the beginning. As luck would have it, that means starting with the Silk Roads.’
The silk roads of course are not actual roads at all but instead they are a series of networks that enable goods, ideas and people to move from the Pacific coast of China and Russia to the Atlantic coasts of Africa and Europe. The author likens this to the central nervous system of the world. This network might have been called the spice routes or maybe named after languages or scientific ideas. However, the silk roads they became and the name has stuck. There are several versions of this particular Frankopan book and indeed very many books with this title by other writers. The one I am talking about is the illustrated edition and it is aimed at children. I have said before that for me a good book is simply that and I really don’t care if the publisher has decided it is aimed at adults or children. I will however add the ISBN at the end in case you should wish to acquire a copy. If you want a deeper historical insight then maybe you want to seek out the more scholarly volume.
So, here we are shown an Afghanistan and a Kabul that are completely distanced from the war-torn pictures on our TV screens today. Instead we read of famed gardens, amazing art and craftsmanship and ideas and learning being shared. A history lesson in itself.
One chapter is called ‘The Road of Faith’ and shows how religions were always about more than faith and belief. They were also about success and politics. When times are good it is fairly easy to tolerate others and their different way of life but when things are difficult then minorities are targeted and will always be the first to suffer. This seems to apply today as much as to a thousand years ago. This particular chapter brought to mind the recent Scottish leadership campaign with both Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf bringing to the political table their own cultural and religious beliefs and having to apply them to tricky and contentious modern issues.
The chapter headed ‘The Road to Heaven’ was fascinating as it was concerned with the desperate desire to possess and control Jerusalem by all three Abrahamic faiths. Having been on the church pilgrimage to the Holy Land immediately before the first lockdown I was able to see for myself how the disputes between those three religions are sadly alive and well today. The very current problems will be emphasised and heightened by the time of the Jewish Passover coinciding this year with the Muslim period of Ramadan, followed quickly by Holy Week and Easter.
The book moves, beautifully chronologically, through the centuries to the First and Second World War and then inevitably to history that I remember, history of the second half of the 20th century. It still comes as somewhat of a shock to find years of my life in a history book! I remember when Persia had recently become Iran and was led by a Shah, I know where I was when Kennedy was shot and of course I clearly remember the television pictures of the twin towers collapsing. Inevitably one tends to file the disasters away; peace is not so in your face. Pleasingly, Peter Frankopan finishes by pointing out how much better the world is today than in all its yesterdays and there are many who would have us believe otherwise.
Buy this book for a 10 to15 year old with an inquiring mind but have a good look at it yourself first. You may decide it is worthy of your time and a place on your bookshelf. Published by Bloomsbury ISBN 978-5266-2356-0.
Susan Brice
PS: Also, do watch Simon Schama’s brilliant series ’A History of Britain’ on BBC4 and iPlayer … told chronologically of course!