By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean, Barry Cunliffe
By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean, Barry Cunliffe
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By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean
The Birth of Eurasia

Author: Barry Cunliffe

Narrator: Jennifer M. Dixon

Unabridged: 18 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/24/2021

Synopsis

By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean is nothing less than the story of how humans first started building the globalized world we know today. Set on a huge continental stage, from Europe to China, it is a tale covering over 10,000 years, from the origins of farming around 9000 BC to the expansion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century AD.

An unashamedly "big history," it charts the development of European, Near Eastern, and Chinese civilizations and the growing links between them by way of the Indian Ocean, the silk Roads, and the great steppe corridor (which crucially allowed horse riders to travel from Mongolia to the Great Hungarian Plain within a year). Along the way, it is also the story of the rise and fall of empires, the development of maritime trade, and the shattering impact of predatory nomads on their urban neighbors.

Above all, as this immense historical panorama unfolds, we begin to see in clearer focus those basic underlying factors—the acquisitive nature of humanity, the differing environments in which people live, and the dislocating effect of even slight climatic variation—which have driven change throughout the ages, and which help us better understand our world today.

About Barry Cunliffe

Barry Cunliffe taught archaeology at the Universities of Bristol and Southampton and was professor of European archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2008, thereafter becoming Emeritus Professor. He has excavated widely in Britain (Fishbourne, Bath, Danebury, Hengistbury Head, Brading) and in the Channel Islands, Brittany, and Spain, and has been president of the Council for British Archaeology and of the Society of Antiquaries, Governor of the Museum of London, a Commissioner of English Heritage, and a Trustee of the British Museum. His many books include Facing the Ocean, Druids: A Very Short Introduction, Britain Begins, By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean, and On the Ocean, all published by Oxford University Press. He received a knighthood in 2006.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Keith

This is a remarkable book. In its ambition, its scope and its production values Barry Cunliffe’s study is extremely impressive. Some years ago I very much enjoyed reading his ‘Extraordinary Voyage of Pytheas the Greek’ which now reads as a minor foothill to the mountain range of this volume. Make no......more

Goodreads review by Maya

Everyone knows that no matter what Professor Cunliffe writes about, something is always going to learned. This book is no exception. I loved all the maps and illustrations and photographs that helped bring across the points that professor Cunliffe was trying to get across. But most if all I liked th......more

Goodreads review by David

Barry Cunliffe's By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean: The Birth of Eurasia is a brilliant, if at times politically left-of-center and dry, read. If you are looking for a sweeping read that helps explain the massive landmass between Ireland and Japan. It concludes with the 13th Century but covers all major......more

Goodreads review by Rex

"History is far more than a series of events and the biographies of big names; it is the subtle interweaving of human actions spread over vast landscapes and through deep time creating a dense fabric, every thread of which has significance. The wonder of it all lies in how interconnected everything......more

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