Review by Booklist Review
Numerous archaeological discoveries over the past several decades have changed the way we think about the past. This detailed account examines these new revelations through the guise of the travelers, or nomads, who ventured out and created connections with other societies, influencing each others' lifestyles, languages, beliefs, and economies. The book is divided into three chronological sections: early hunter and gatherer societies through the Egyptians; the rich networks that existed between present-day Hungary and China while most of Europe was hunkering down under the Dark Ages; and modern times, when competition and dominion change the definition of nomads and challenge their very existence. As in his previous books, British journalist Sattin (The Gates of Africa) makes unexpected connections and draws novel comparisons, using an effective storytelling style. Sattin, who has spent considerable time with nomadic tribes in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, maintains that traditional historical accounts tend to ignore the contributions of nomadic societies, concentrating instead on empires and superpowers. This informative account effectively changes that narrative.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Journalist and travel writer Sattin (Young Lawrence) delivers an insightful examination of the role nomadic cultures played in the development of modern civilization. Contending that nomadic groups were essential to the cyclical rise, development, breakdown, and regeneration of settled societies across the Middle East and Eurasian steppe, Sattin details confrontations and collaborations between "the mobile and the settled" in the early empires of Egypt, Greece, Persia, and Rome; chronicles the rise of Islam among Persian tribesmen and the expansion of the Mongol Empire across Central Asia; and explores the impact of colonialism and industrialization on nomadic societies around the world. Throughout, Sattin lucidly explains recent archaeological, linguistic, and genealogical research; draws vivid profiles of 14th-century Arab philosopher Ibn Khaldun, Yuan dynasty founder Kubilai Khan, and others; and illuminates the impact of pandemic diseases, climate change, and environmental degradation on world history. He also makes a convincing case that the brutality of nomadic cultures has been overstated and that their virtues, including adaptability, inclusion, and respect for nature, offer valuable lessons for today. Enriched by Sattin's evocative prose and tangible enthusiasm for the subject, this sweeping survey informs and entertains. (Sept.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
A distinguished journalist focusing on the Middle East and Africa, Sattin discovered and edited Harriet Tytler's memoir of the 1857 Indian Mutiny and Florence Nightingale's correspondence home from her journey up the Nile in 1849--50. Here he follows up his LJ-starred Young Lawrence with an expanded purview, considering the tension between nomadic and settled societies from biblical times while highlighting the great Arabic, Mongol, and Mughal nomadic empires.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A meditation on human wandering through history, looking deep into past and future alike. Sattin tells the story of a life-and-death rivalry between settled farmers and roving pastoralists. That conflict was not always thus, writes the author, a British traveler with long-standing interest in the Middle East, and he begins with a consideration of "the challenges of being a herder in the Zagros Mountains in the twenty-first century." The challenges they face today are similar to those of their ancestors, fulfilling a biological imperative to move and keep on moving, hard-wired into human DNA. Sattin digs into the urban-rural divide, noting that one of the earliest cities known to history, a Turkish site called Göbekli Tepe, sturdy and well built, was apparently never meant to be inhabited: It was a place of the gods. Just so, there was ancient Baghdad, built on a circular plan "around which the nomadic world could turn." At some point in history, those who stayed close to or within the walls began to fear those who moved freely outside, and for good reason. Sattin considers the history of the Mongols, who, from deep within Asia, built an empire that encompassed much of Europe but whose wandering ways, albeit violent, "stimulated the nearest thing the world had ever seen to a global trade network." One has to wander in order to make sales, after all. The author observes that people will be made to move in the future because of climate change--perhaps a net positive given that nomadic ways are "less damaging for the natural world and therefore better for the future of the planet on which we all depend." Brimming with literary, historical, and anthropological references, Sattin's book makes a splendid rejoinder--and without its fictions--to Bruce Chatwin's now-classic book The Songlines. A treat for any thoughtful traveler, armchair or otherwise. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
