Raiders, Rulers, and Traders

The Horse and the Rise of Empires

David Chaffetz

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English

Norton
24 September 2024

History; Asian history; Ancient history: to c 500 CE; Social & cultural history; Horses & ponies

No animal is so entangled in human history as the horse. The thread starts in prehistory, with a slight, shy animal, hunted for food. Domesticating the horse allowed early humans to settle the vast Eurasian steppe; later, their horses enabled new forms of warfare, encouraged long-distance trade routes, and ended up acquiring deep cultural and religious significance.

Over time, horses came to power mighty empires in Iran, Afghanistan, China, India, and, later, Russia. Genghis Khan and the thirteenth-century Mongols offer the most famous example, but from ancient Assyria and Persia, to the seventeenth-century Mughals, to the high noon of colonialism in the early twentieth century, horse breeding was indispensable to conquest and statecraft.

Scholar of Asian history David Chaffetz tells the story of how the horse made rulers, raiders, and traders interchangeable, providing a novel explanation for the turbulent history of the ""Silk Road,"" which might be better called the Horse Road. Drawing on recent research in fields including genetics and forensic archeology, Chaffetz presents a lively history of the great horse empires that shaped civilization.

By: David Chaffetz
Imprint: Norton
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 236mm, Width: 160mm, Spine: 36mm
Weight: 659g
ISBN: 9781324051466
ISBN 10: 1324051469
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 24 September 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

David Chaffetz, regular Asian Review of Books contributor, member of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, and author of A Journey through Afghanistan and Three Asian Divas, has traveled extensively in Asia for more than forty years. He divides his time between Lisbon and Paris.

Reviews for Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires

"""A dog may be humanity’s best friend, but the horse is certainly the greatest ally. With the strength of horses added to their own modest physical abilities, humans radically changed everything from agriculture and transportation to sports and warfare. From milking to marauding, David Chaffetz’s Raiders, Rulers, and Traders takes the reader on a well-paced ride through the history of this revolutionary and emotional alliance of human and animal."" -- Jack Weatherford, New York Times best-selling author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World"