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Liu and Lynda Norene Shaffer's Connections Across Eurasia
is a strong component of the McGraw-Hill series "Explorations in World
History." Among others, this series includes works on United States history
in global context and universal religions in world history. With Connections
Across Eurasia, readers are in the comfortable hands of two scholars
working in their field of interest—the cultural importance of the
silk roads. Both Liu and Shaffer have published in this field before,
as Liu's publication credits include Ancient India and Ancient
China: Trade and Religious Exchanges, AD 1-600 (1994), Silk and
Religion: An Exploration of Material Life and the Thought of People, AD
600-1200 (1999), and The Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural
Interactions in Eurasia (1998), and Shaffer's includes Maritime
Southeast Asia to 1500 (1996).
Liu
and Shaffer wrote Connections Across Eurasia as a synthetic history
of the silk roads, stretching from the second century BCE—when both
Rome and Han China were coming into their own—to the consolidation
of the Mongol conquests almost fifteen centuries later. As such, it is
a sweeping work (condensed into a relatively modest 262 pages, including
a useful 9 page index) but firmly centered on the unifying thread of what
they label as "one of the most important topics in the history of economic
exchange" (v)—the Eurasian silk trade. Liu and Shaffer hope that
by maintaining this thread throughout their narrative they can make a
significant contribution to World History studies, moving from a regional
context approach to the broader context of a world historical perspective.
Because
this is a synthetic history, it does not contain scholarly apparatus such
as endnotes/footnotes or a bibliography. However, each chapter ends with
suggestions "For Further Reading." So, if a chapter has piqued the student's
(or professor's) interest enough, they have a list of useful titles from
which to get more information. In addition, there are several maps throughout
the book. The maps are in black, white, and grey, and are not anything
out of the ordinary. In fact, all of the maps are reprinted with permission
from the second edition of Jerry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler's Traditions
and Encounters (2003), also published by McGraw-Hill. Yet, given the
sometimes tragically poor level of students' geographical knowledge, any
maps are welcome when covering such a topic. Among others, maps include
"The Silk Roads, 130 BCE-300 CE" (20), "The Expansion of Islam and the
Abbasid Caliphate, 620 to 800 CE" (149), and "The Mongol Empire About
1300" (224). There are also a handful of images, which include the drawing
of a Buddhist stuppa, the head of a Buddha (117), and the ruins of Jiaohe
(141).
In
all, Connections Across Eurasia has seven chapters and an introduction.
Within these chapters, due attention is given to the list of "usual players"
attached to the silk trade: the Roman Empire, the Kushan Empire, the Chinese
dynasties, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Ocean, Genghis Kahn and Kublai
Kahn, and so on. To aid in a reader's digestion of the presented material,
there are some useful features attached to the chapters, each of which
begins with a brief outline and ends with a brief timeline. In addition,
each chapter has a beginning series of questions, suggesting the main
idea(s) of that chapter. For instance, Chapter Five, "Trade and Communication
Under the Muslim System," includes among its introductory questions, "Why
did long-distance trade increase after the Muslim conquests?" and "What
issues fueled disputes and hostilities between the Umayyad Caliphate and
Byzantium?' (147) I have given questions from Chapter Five because I want
to point out that Liu and Shaffer have done an admirable job in presenting
the relationship between major religions and the silk roads, ranging from
Zoroastrianism to Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. While Chapter Five
is devoted to "Trade and Communication Under the Muslim System" (147-186),
Chapter Four is devoted to "Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Buddhism:
Political Turmoil and a New Relationship Between Empire and Religion"
(107-146), and sections of Chapter Two ("Mahayana Buddhism and Its Spread
to China," 63-70) and Chapter 3 ("Buddhist Establishments on the Desert
Routes," 85-90) center on the Buddhist diaspora.
My
greatest concern with Connections Across Eurasia relates to the
stated goal of the series: "It seeks to convey the results of recent research
in World History in a form wholly accessible to beginning students. It
also provides a pedagogical alternative to or supplement for the large
and inclusive core textbooks, which are features of so many World History
courses." ("Note From the Series Editors," x) This is a laudable goal.
Unfortunately, I have serious doubts as to how well this particular book
can achieve that goal. I question how useful this book would be for introductory
World History courses. Connections Across Eurasia is simply too
broad of a survey on the cultural significance of the silk roads to be
that useful. After all, as inclusive as this work is concerning the silk
roads—to be sure, an invaluable subject for any World History survey
course—developments in Western Europe and the Americas and sub-Saharan
Africa are nowhere to be found. Thus, if this book were to be used as
an alternative to a "regular" textbook, where would students turn for
contextualizing the significance of Charlemagne or the mound-building
societies of North America, to name but two examples? On the other hand,
as a supplement to a "regular" textbook, this work is simply too focused
on the silk roads. Despite the importance of trade and like cultural interchanges,
it is unrealistic to expect introductory-level students to focus so much
attention on this topic, particularly in courses already stretched for
time.
Though there are definite concerns regarding using this book for World
History survey courses, this book would be an excellent work for junior/senior
level World History courses, in which professors focus on particular themes
of World History. For instance, this book could serve as a key reference
for a World History class devoted to such topics as the Silk Road, Eurasian
relations, the cultural development of Eurasia, or key cultural interchanges,
perhaps in conjunction with studying the "Columbian Exchange."
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