We love history, even more so when it challenges our perceptions.
What a book! It reads like a thrilling crime novel with espionage, backstabbing, unbelievable twists and turns, and a good dose of heartache. Unfortunately, it is our history. And therefore, a good deal more shock, outrage, and hopelessness than your run-of-the-mill crime novel.
To provide a major reassessment of our world history and move from a west-centric worldview, Peter Frankopan manages a remarkable feat of tracing and connecting thousands of years of history into an epic story. Yes, it is quite a lot! And yes, it takes a while to go through. Although, when we get to the 1000s, it becomes increasingly difficult to put the book down. (Maybe it had to do with the situation leading to the First Crusade in the early 1000s or the spread of Black Death in the mid-1300s and the consequences of it, you know, all the fun stuff…).
When history is laid out like it is in this book, you are left awash with new perspectives. Everything is not as it seems, and not as simple as it is narrated and lauded by the victors. It reiterates how when the men in power don’t understand the mistakes of the past, repeat it. It reiterates:
#1 that every action has a consequence and when we act with short-term, selfish, and misguided notions, they literally impact the world for 100s of years.
#2 how intricately our world is connected, how an event in one part of the world can impact another (like this fascinating one of Robert Clive’s actions in Bengal that almost bankrupted the East India Company that led to increased taxes in the Americas leading to the Boston Tea Party!).
#3 not put any one country on a pedestal. It reminds us that, like with people, no one region is greater than or superior to another. We are all stuck in an endless loop of exploiting one another, and we haven’t figured a way out.
So if you love history and want to learn from a different point of view, this book is definitely for you.
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