By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean

The Birth of Eurasia

By: Barry Cunliffe

Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon

By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean is nothing less than the story of how humans first started building the globalized world we know today. Set on a huge continental stage, from Europe to China, it is a tale covering more than 10,000 years, from the origins of farming around 9000 BC to the expansion of the Mongols in the 13th century AD.

An unashamedly "big history", it charts the development of European, Near Eastern, and Chinese civilizations and the growing links between them by way of the Indian Ocean, the Silk Roads, and the great steppe corridor (which crucially allowed horse riders to travel from Mongolia to the Great Hungarian Plain within a year). Along the way, it is also the story of the rise and fall of empires, the development of maritime trade, and the shattering impact of predatory nomads on their urban neighbors.

Above all, as this immense historical panorama unfolds, we begin to see in clearer focus those basic underlying factors - the acquisitive nature of humanity, the differing environments in which people live, and the dislocating effect of even slight climatic variation - that have driven change throughout the ages and that help us better understand our world today.

©2015 Barry Cunliffe (P)2021 Tantor

A great book

A wonderful book that I found to be developmental and maturative for a young man coming of age such as myself. I found great relation with the author and I further highly recommend this book.

The History book I’ve heard so far

Although this book is not completely linear, it most is which helps to keep context. Often history books seem to be hiding something the way they jump around mixing millennia, century and decades almost interchangeably.

This book also helps the listener to follow the directions of movement, migration and invasion although not pointing them out explicitly.

It’s also narrated very well without her interjecting her impression and emotions into the story.

My only disappointment is that he did not sufficiently cover the spread of technologies deep into Asia. I have been able to trace the bow, bronze, iron and steels progress to Japan.
As well as architecture, and written language. Instead it supposed that only in Asia did they all developed independently of the rest of the world but in the same exact pattern.
Where did the Sumerians go after Akkad defeated them? Where did the lost tribes of Israel go after they were exiled? These things are know but left out along with many important mile stones in early development of Korea, Japan, eastern China, Vietnam, Tibet, India and Indonesia which all have very clear connections to essence of this book. I can understand why Africa was left out for a list of reasons. Far East Asia has a direct connection to the Scythians, The Xion tribes from Israel and the Overthrown Sumerians on the steppe.

Remarkable research!

This is the first time I've heard an account that goes back 20 millennium and I appreciate it so much. The history of people, of climate change, and people movement is fascinating.

Problematic Pronunciation

The narrator’s unconventional pronunciation of names and terms meant at times, I was only able to understand what she was referring to toward the end of the section.
Also, the monotonous tone and pace meant I had to be alert to notice a change in topic.
Overall, a disappointing listen.