Alumni Travel Reading Lists 2020: Central Asia

Frankopan presents a history of the world from the perspective of the Silk Road trade routes that carried ideas, religious beliefs, trade, and conflict from east to west and west to east.

A comprehensive illustrated publication on the Silk Roads

To this day, you can still hear recitations of the legends of the warrior-saint Satuq Bughra Khan of the Qarakhanid dynasty. This volume is the first complete English translation of the Qarakhanid narrative cycle. These stories are representative of both the literary and religious heritage of the Central Asian cultures.

Jackson explores different aspects of the imperial event that encompassed what is now Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and parts of eastern Europe. He examines the cultural consequences for the Islamic lands, the Muslim experience of Mongol sovereignty, and the conquerors' eventual conversion to Islam.

Christoph Baumer's four volumes chart the 3000-year saga of Scythians and Sarmatians; Soviets and trade routes, which led to the transmission of ideas across the steppes.

A Soviet era account of life in Central Asia: "A family of fraternal peoples: 50 years since the formation of the Uzbek, Kirghiz, Turkmen and Tajik Soviet Socialist Republics."

Timur (or Tamerlane) was the fourteenth-century conqueror of much of Central Eurasia and the founder of the Timurid dynasty. His story continued to intrigue some three centuries after his death and this interest manifested itself in these fictional biographies, authored anonymously in Persian and Turkic.

Spengler presents a range of archaeological, botanical, and historical evidence in this history of the origins and spread of agriculture across Inner Asia and into Europe and East Asia. Rice, tea, apples, leafy greens, grapes, and almonds -- discover their path from trade routes through Central Asia to your table.

Explores the history of three ancient trade routes (silk, scent and spice merchandise) and their impact on the development and spread of new ideas, technologies and religions across the world.

This book examines trade routes and their influence on human history as travelers carried ideas through books, scrolls, and art. Trade route roads and pathways allowed for the transport of armies, slaves, and pilgrims. From the Silk Road to the ancient Nile to the Erie Canal

"Azhigerei is growing up in Soviet Kazakhstan, learning the ancient art of the kuy from his musician father. But with the music comes knowledge about his country, his family, and the past that is at times difficult to bear. Based on the author's own family history, A Life at Noon provides us a glimpse into a time and place . . . [This was] the first post-Soviet novel from Kazakhstan to appear in English"

"On New Years' Eve 1938, the writer Abdulla Qodiriy is taken from his home by the Soviet secret police and thrown into a Tashkent prison. There, to distract himself from the physical and psychological torment of beatings and mindless interrogations, he attempts to mentally reconstruct the novel he was writing at the time of his arrest - based on the tragic life of the Uzbek poet-queen Oyhon . . ."

This post-Soviet thriller with echoes of the cold war takes off when Kolya discovers an annotated manuscript hidden inside a copy of War and Peace. He decides to track down its author, even if it means digging up bodies and trouble.

The author, Mukhamet Shayakhmetov, was born into a family of nomadic Kazakh herdsmen in 1922, the year of the consolidation of Soviet rule of the steppe-land. His eye witness account relates the devastating history of Soviet policy, famine, and the near demise of an entire people and culture bordering on, if not crossing over into, genocide.

Chagataev, the hero of Soul, was born in Central Asia but travels to be educated in Moscow. As an adult, he is sent back to his birthplace as a kind of missionary to rescue and lead his people towards Communism. According to Daniel Kalder, "though the author was Russian, [Dzhan] is considered by central Asian writers to be one of the best books ever written about their region."

From Pennsylvania to Uzbekistan, strangers meet and connect under improbable circumstances.

An exploration of Uzbekistan's creation of national culture in the 1990s. (Photograph: The tower blocks at Hamid Olimjon Square. Photo by: Alice Allan)

Merchant investigates and experiences Tashkent's contemporary music scene to better understand the contribution of women musicians within the nation's evolving artistic and political arenas.

A memoir of the author's 1875 trek across Central Asia to the newly conquered Uzbek city of Khiva.

Batuman's book is a memoir of reading. She recounts her experiences as a student and scholar in Uzbekistan, where she lives with a host family while studying the language at the university. For a taste of her writing, visit.

An insightful portrait of 21st Century Kazakhstan as it reached its 20th Anniversary of independence from the former Soviet Union.

Essays from archaeologists, historians and scholars to explain Kazakhstan's long and complex history in a single narrative. Maps and images from museum collections.

Rico Isaacs uses cinema to explore the Kazakh national identity and how it has evolved during the post-Soviet decades.

A journey through time, analyzing the history of Central Asian cultures, arts, and architecture since prehistoric times.

This book considers a global history of silk in the pre-modern era. The book examines the role of silk production and trade as a force of cross- cultural interaction through technological exchange and trade.

For thousands of years, the Middle East, Turkey, and Central Asia have been home to rich textile traditions.

Author Susan Meller assembled the 590 textiles illustrated in this book. She documents their history, use, and meaning through archival photographs and travelers' narratives from across the centuries.