Central Asia

A New History from the Imperial Conquests to the Present

By: Adeeb Khalid

Narrated by: Aaqil Ahmed

This engaging audiobook narrated by Aaqil Ahmed explores how Central Asia has been shaped by modern world events.

Central Asia is often seen as a remote and inaccessible land on the peripheries of modern history. Encompassing Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and the Xinjiang province of China, it in fact stands at the crossroads of world events. Adeeb Khalid provides the first comprehensive history of Central Asia from the mid-18th century to today, shedding light on the historical forces that have shaped the region under imperial and Communist rule.

Predominantly Muslim with both nomadic and settled populations, the peoples of Central Asia came under Russian and Chinese rule after the 1700s. Khalid shows how foreign conquest knit Central Asians into global exchanges of goods and ideas and forged greater connections to the wider world. He explores how the Qing and Tsarist empires dealt with ethnic heterogeneity, and compares Soviet and Chinese Communist attempts at managing national and cultural difference. He highlights the deep interconnections between the "Russian" and "Chinese" parts of Central Asia that endure to this day, and demonstrates how Xinjiang remains an integral part of Central Asia despite its fraught and traumatic relationship with contemporary China.

The essential history of one of the most diverse and culturally vibrant regions on the planet, this panoramic book reveals how Central Asia has been profoundly shaped by the forces of modernity, from colonialism and social revolution to nationalism, state-led modernization, and social engineering.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Adeeb Khalid (P)2021 Princeton University Press

Critic reviews

"Sophisticated but accessible, this book offers a long-overdue corrective to the division of Central Asia's history into east and west. Khalid shows how the two zones' fates have not just run parallel but have been intertwined, both despite and because of their colonization by China and Russia." (Rian Thum, author of The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History)

"A masterful work. Adeeb Khalid draws together the legacies of the Russian and Chinese imperial conquests of Central Asia to provide a comprehensive and compelling understanding of the region's political, cultural, and social transformations." (Marianne Kamp, author of The New Woman in Uzbekistan: Islam, Modernity, and Unveiling Under Communism)

"A stunning achievement. Combining his own deep knowledge of Central Asia with the most recent scholarship, Khalid gives us an unrivalled modern history of the region as an integrated whole. This accessible and empathetic book marks an important step forward in linking Central Asia to the wider global history of colonialism and its afterlives." (David Brophy, author of Uyghur Nation: Reform and Revolution on the Russia-China Frontier)

Very accurate

By far my favorite book about central asian history I especially liked how the author wove the different time periods into each other and went back to recap I will read this again it is a lot to digest . Thank you!

Great overview of central Asian history

Really excellent writing and d a grand overview of the history of the region. The beginning really lays out a great framework. Some inconsistency in tone between sections and Chinese pronunciation not always

Not a world apart.

The people and places of Central Asia rarely surface in the US and appear with little or no context and historical perspective. This excellent and detailed book fills the void with an intimate understanding and appreciation for cultures and history that are too often reduced to stereotypes and anecdotes.

Fascinating Region

I'm pretty sure all I ever heard about Central Asia in my American K-12 education was that the Silk Road passed through there, but there's so much more to know. It's a land of countless diverse cultures influencing and being influenced by their neighbors - China, Russia, India, the Middle East...

While Central Asia may be "off the beaten path" from a Western point of view, these countries have been players in major world events, WWII and the Space Race just to name a couple. The author also describes in great detail the ups and downs of the relationship between Islam and Communism.

Finally, the author touches on the tragedy of what's going on in "Xinjiang" with the concentration camps and destruction of cultures that the CCP views as a threat. Are we going to let this thing meet or even surpass the genocidal horrors of the previous century? It's in our hands, I suppose. These are very decisive times, and you'll be far better equipped to make the right decisions if you know how this region became what it is today.

And the narrator's English is good, plus you can be sure that his pronunciation of Central Asian names and words are correct.

Teasure trove of facts dumped out in heaping mess

An absolute must read for those seeking a deeper fact based grasp of Central Asia. Neither suited to audio nor performed well... just get the book. Plagued with backtracking, tautology and a confusing disorder. That said, there is nothing else out there that even remotely matches the depth and sheer quantity of information on this topic.

Great History of a Forgotten Region

This book is really good, I do recommend it, but I need to preface that recommendation with: have some understanding of the geography first. I know it comes with a PDF but when I'm listening to the book for several hours at work it's hard to pull up a PDF every 15 minutes. I haven't looked at the PDF but I'm sure it makes it easier to consume. I have a better understanding of the cities in the region than probably most Americans and even I'm kinda stumped at times listening to it. As for the information it describes how the modern borders came about. The region was a buffer for many empires all fighting over it for trade routes and sometimes resources. The narrative by different empires about their involvement in the region is scrutinized and disproved by the dates of different events. It's good to get a thread of the story being told by each region and web them together to get a picture of how they all came to the modern era.

Important book, perhaps better read

For my western American ears, the narrator’s rapid speech and strong British accent were hard to follow. I could, I recognize, have slowed the pace, but this text was for knowledge rather than pleasure. The author did answer several questions I had, and several more I didn’t know I had. For that, I am grateful.

excellent overview historically and present

very interesting. did a great job of catching the listener up on over 1,000 years of Central Asian history without falling into the trap of exoticism. Also presented a very through and evidence based modern history. The end was very enlightening and should be a warning cry to anyone willing to listen about the dangers of state totalitarianism in an age of advanced technology. Entirely too many actors both foreign and our own country are very interested in seeing how china's experiment in "re-education" is being tacitly allowed by the world leaders.

Obvious Agendas, poor articulation

the authors clearly were using the theme of central Asia to highlight the plight of a single territory under Chinese dominion.

they also portrayed the soviet's as a contrast to China and as better than the West. finally, they excused Islamic control and authoritarian regimes post-soviet as needed -- and any post cold war market reforms a failure.

much ideology and bias tainted what could have been a solid book.

also, the narrator used a lot of non standard pronunciations of English language words. at times, this not only made him difficult to understand, but sometimes even changed the meaning of the sentence.

recommend Princeton press re-edit this book for bias and hire a new narrator. potential to be great...