Mapping the Silk Road and Beyond
2,000 Years of Exploring the East
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Years ago, Lady Francesca St. Ives was divorced and cast out of her family--surrounded by rumors of a terrible scandal. Only her beloved Aunt Clarissa and Uncle John stood by her, taking her to their home in India.
Now heiress to a large fortune and known as Lady Fanny Wentworth, she returns to England to make a new life for herself--without the help of a man. But as they board the ship in Calais, she and her aunt rescue a little girl named Charlotte from thieves... and meet the child's father, the very handsome--and arrogant--Colonel Sir Derek Sheldon. Lady Fanny is charmed by sweet, innocent Charlotte, even as she is irritated by the child's father. Then an illness traps Lady Fanny at the Sheldon estate and, as she recovers, sharing close quarters with him, sparks begin to fly. Now Fanny must make a difficult decision--for if she trusts the Colonel with her heart, she must also trust him with the scandalous secrets of her past..
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As we come to expect from Phaidon, this is a visually stunning book. The many maps are vibrant and clearly reproduced, a full page for each in this large format (295x250mm) paperback.
While I admit to not reading every page, this book is well suited to picking out the detail that interests the reader, rather than a full narrative.
Divided into five parts, the section titles are:
- Ancient and Medieval European Concepts of Asia
- The Impulse to Explore the East
- East India Empires: Portuguese, Dutch, British, French, Spanish
- Resisting European Encroachment: Japan, Korea, China
- North to Cathay and the Pacific
Each of these sections contain numbered maps showing the progress and regression of the understanding of the explored (or in some cases unexplored) geography of the world. The Silk Road is the common factor, but not necessarily the most dominant in the text, which explains the map: it's origins, its author(s) and the information which led to it being produced. In many cases this does tie back to the Silk Road, but I found this was not always the most interesting or relevant part.
A visual spectacular, and 4 stars.
