Books by Peter Frankopan
Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University, where he is also Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford and Director of the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research. He memorably told Five Books that, “You learn much more about Russia before the revolution by reading The Cherry Orchard than you will by studying the tsar and his land reforms or other decisions made in St Petersburg by the leadership.”
The Earth Transformed: An Untold History
by Peter Frankopan
The Earth Transformed is by Peter Frankopan, a professor of global history at the University of Oxford and a specialist on Byzantium. However, in The Earth Transformed he tells the story not of political dynasties and wars but of the world's climate. Frankopan is a nice writer so this is a good way to get up to speed on the world's climate history, though it is long—650 or so pages—so it's more compendium of information than quick summary.
The Silk Roads: The Extraordinary History That Created Your World
Peter Frankopan and Neil Packer (illustrator)
This is a flexicover illustrated edition of Frankopan’s bestseller for adults. It is rare to get a history book for kids with an international perspective, so a book for younger readers that provides a succinct summary of the broad sweeps of history is very welcome. Inevitably with such condensed material, there are points to quibble about and more thought could have been given to exactly what level of readers it is for. Nevertheless, this is the sort of book that can ignite a passion for history, a feel for the bigger picture. The focus is on the intersection of the routes between east and west, north and south, places such as Baghdad and Constantinople. There are pages of dense text so the audiobook is a good option, but the print version has the advantage of maps.
Ages 11-13
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
by Peter Frankopan
“I start my book by talking about maps: everyone puts themselves right in the middle. If you’re a child growing up today in Shanghai, it doesn’t have London at the centre of the world as it does if you live here in the UK…I think reconfiguring how we think about geography, how we think about history, and how we think about international relations is hugely important in a world that we keep on being told is globalised, where we can travel and exchange information quickly. I’m trying to work out how to broaden that appeal. I’m not a hectoring academic who insists that people have got it wrong or should follow my lead. It just seems to me entirely natural that there are parts of the world that we should look at, that we don’t…
It is important for historians to get the big picture but when you get close, the detail has to be there. So, if you want to know how staircases changed in Venice in the 1600s, or about the prices of wool in Amsterdam, or what was being written in Isfahan or Tabriz 700-800 years ago, the footnotes are all there in my book and you can drill down. A bit like a work of art, it looks equally detailed close up as it does from afar.
Sometimes big picture books can lose that detail. There are a lot of half-truths, lots of things that are broadly right, but actually need to be qualified. The trick, of course, is to write a book that is readable. I try and flag up where there are disputes or where things are complex or where there are scholarly debates, and leave it in the footnotes for people to follow up. As you know, it’s a highbrow book but it shouldn’t be too hard. Mary Beard called it, “perfect poolside reading.” I need to buy her drinks next time I see her, to say thank you for that.”
Interviews with Peter Frankopan
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1
Five Plays: Ivanov, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard
by Anton Chekhov -
2
De Administrando Imperio
by Constantine Porphyrogenitus -
3
The Alexiad
by Anna Komnene -
4
Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North
by Ibn Fadlan -
5
Landscapes of Power
by Caterina Franchi (Editor), Maximilian Lau (Editor) & Morgan Di Rodi (Editor)
Peter Frankopan on History
Peter Frankopan on History
What kind of books should we read to get a broader sense of history? Peter Frankopan, professor of global history at Oxford University, talks us through the books that inspired him.
Interviews where books by Peter Frankopan were recommended
The best books on Central Asia’s Golden Age, recommended by S. Frederick Starr
Central Asia’s history is rarely a focus for students in the West, but its flourishing cities and great thinkers once made it one of the world’s most dynamic and important regions. Frederick Starr, a leading expert on Central Asia and author of a number of books about it, talks us through the highlights of an area that was so much more than just a stopping place on the ancient Silk Roads.
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1
A Stranger in Your Own City: Travels in the Middle East's Long War
by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad -
2
Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope
by Sarah Bakewell -
3
Travels with Tocqueville Beyond America
by Jeremy Jennings -
4
The Earth Transformed: An Untold History
by Peter Frankopan -
5
The Wife of Bath: A Biography
by Marion Turner
Notable Nonfiction of Early 2023, recommended by Sophie Roell
Notable Nonfiction of Early 2023, recommended by Sophie Roell
As 2023 gets underway, Five Books editor Sophie Roell looks at some of the interesting nonfiction books coming out in the early months of the year (January-March).
