John Man
Rafts on a Sea of Grass
The History of Central Asia, Volume One: The Age of the Steppe Warriors
By Christoph Baumer (translated by Miranda Bennett)
I B Tauris 372pp £25
In an age of specialists, Christoph Baumer is a rare creature: a generalist. Explorer, archaeologist, adventurer, enthusiast, historian, photographer – no one could be better qualified to tackle a subject so vast in time and space. He must also be a book lover, for this, the first of four volumes on the subject, is a gorgeous creation, with creamy paper, crisp design and perfect colour pictures.
He starts with drifting continents closing off Eurasia’s arid, grassy and often icy heartland, and takes the story through to humans coping with the challenges they faced. On coasts and rivers, we had it easy. That’s where big and successful cultures first arose. But the interior had very few rivers. What it had was grass, often scanty, but enough for cattle and horses, once people discovered how to ride, herd and breed them.
The grass is an inland sea flowing from north China to the Black Sea (and a little bit beyond, into Hungary). You get the idea driving about Mongolia today: huge landscapes, the occasional tent, no fences. It took great expertise to live as pastoral nomads, let alone build cities, but it was made to work many times over. Baumer describes over one hundred
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
London's East End was long synonymous with poverty and sweatshops, while its West End was associated with glamour and high society. But when it came to the fashion industry, were the differences really so profound?
Sharman Kadish - Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers
Sharman Kadish: Winkle-pickers & Bum Freezers - Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners Shaped Global Style; Fashion City: ...
literaryreview.co.uk
In 1982, Donald Rumsfeld presented Saddam Hussein with a pair of golden spurs. Two decades later he was dropping bunker-busting bombs on his palaces.
Where did the US-Iraqi relationship go wrong?
Rory Mccarthy - The Case of the Vanishing Missiles
Rory Mccarthy: The Case of the Vanishing Missiles - The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States and the ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Barbara Comyns was a dog breeder, a house painter, a piano restorer, a landlady... And a novelist.
@nclarke14 on the lengths 20th-century women writers had to go to make ends meet:
Norma Clarke - Her Family & Other Animals
Norma Clarke: Her Family & Other Animals - Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence by Avril Horner
literaryreview.co.uk