[davee5]

Was it actually? Because I'm hard up for a good Silk Road read.

I slogged through Raoul McLaughlin's "The Roman Empire & the Silk Routes" because it's online reviews were glowing for silk road history told with decent story telling. I still found it startlingly dry, it felt like a demonstration of how much research he did rather than a real narrative arc.

Tangentially I read half of it aloud to my little kids for bedtime, they loved the crazy names of faraway fantastical sounding places - it's about all that really redeemed it experientially. YMMV, apparently.

[phlakaton]

I'm reading it too! A little dry so far, and I am reading very slowly for Reasons other than the book, but what's cool about the book is his intent to poke a finger in the eye of Western world history wherever he can manage. Lots of unfamiliar, cool history here.

Prof. Frankopan definitely gives a shout-out to the Sogdians, though he doesn't spend much time on it.