This volume on the Silk Road by Xinru Liu is a welcome addition to the New Oxford World History series, which consists of brief and affordable introductions on a world region, period of history, or a general topic for world history classes or the interested general reader. Undertaking a history of the Silk Road is a formidable challenge because the Silk Road is not a clearly defined area, but rather convenient shorthand for the diverse land and sea trade routes that formed an extensive network covering most of Eurasia and parts of Africa. Silk in the form of both yarn and finished textiles was always instrumental in the development of this trade network, but there were other important goods as well, such as horses, incenses, spices, and later tea. Liu starts at the beginning of organized trade and communication on the Eurasian steppe sometime in the fifth century BCE and ends with the dissolution of the Mongol Empire in the fourteenth century CE only adding to the difficulty of this challenge, especially in a volume consisting of only 126 pages of text.

The goal for this series as envisioned by its editors, Bonnie G. Smith and Anand Yang, is a “new” world history that “emphasizes connectedness and interactions of all kinds—cultural, economic, political, religious and social” (p. ix–x). Liu's previous work does just that in regard to Eurasia, making her the ideal choice to write The Silk Road in World History. It is mostly based on the research from two of her previous books on trade, religion and sericulture: Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Religious Exchanges, AD 1–600 (Delhi and New York: Oxford University Press, 1988); and Silk and Religion: an Exploration of Material Life and the Thought of People, AD 600–1200 (Delhi and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999). The current work, however, is revised for a general audience, consisting of six chapters with a useful Chronology and lists of resources such as Further Reading and Websites.

Chapter 1, “China Looks West,” starts with the origins of the Silk Road during the Han Dynasty in China with its conflicts and alliances with nomads on the Eurasian steppe, especially the Xiongnu and Yuezhi. Rome's appetite for silk and other luxuries from Arabia, Africa and Asia and the central role that the Arabs played in the trade of these goods is covered in Chapter 2, “Rome Looks East.” Chapter 3, “The Kushan Empire and Buddhism,” provides the link between China and Rome, the Kushan Empire, which straddled the Silk Road in Central Asia from the mid-1st to the mid-3rd centuries CE. This chapter also provides a brief introduction to Buddhism and the role that the trade in silk and other items played in its spread from India to China.

Chapter 4, “A Golden Age Emerges,” describes the maturation of the Silk Road after the demise of the Han, Kushan, Parthian, and Roman Empires, the development of the silk weaving industry in the Byzantine Empire, and the rapid growth of Buddhism in China. The relationship between the production of silk textiles and Christianity in the Byzantine Empire and Western Europe is described in Chapter 5, “Transforming the Eurasian Silk Market,” along with the coming of Islam and the role of its various institutions in transcontinental trade and the expansion of the Tang Dynasty. Chapter 6, “The Mongols and the Twilight of the Silk Road,” outlines the Mongol conquest of most of Eurasia with emphases on the Mongol capital of Karakorum as a center of trade and the role of Muslims in the Mongol Empire and its successor states. It also covers the demise of the Silk Road with the growth of maritime trade in Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Any general reader interested in silk or textiles will enjoy this book, but so too will one who is captivated by any other aspect of the Silk Road, for it provides a quick but fascinating historical narrative. As a textbook for a world history class, its appeal lies not only in the romance of the Silk Road but also in its use of material culture to write world history by connecting economic and political activities with the religious values of various traditions. One potential drawback is its terseness, which results in a breathless pace back and forth across Eurasia through roughly two millennia and which could be overwhelming. I also recommend that instructors consult the two books previously mentioned for details and references omitted from this book for the sake of space. Finally, although Professor Liu lists current scholarship in the Further Reading section, the book does not incorporate too much of it, possibly because it was in the press for a long time, for she mentions in the Acknowledgements that it was commissioned eight years ago (p. 141).