The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction is a new look at an ancient subject: the silk road that linked China, India, Persia and the Mediterranean across the expanses of Central Asia. James A. Millward highlights unusual but important biological, technological and cultural exchanges over the silk roads that stimulated development across Eurasia and underpin civilization in our modern, globalized world.

• List of illustrations


• Acknowledgments


• Chapter 1: Environment, empires and ecumenes


• Chapter 2: Eras of silk road fluorescence


• Chapter 3: The biological silk road


• Chapter 4: The technological silk road


• Chapter 5: The arts on the silk road


• Chapter 6: Whither the silk road?


• References


• Further Reading


• Index

James A. Millward is professor of history, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. His books include Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang.