Two Stops Past Siberia

A History of Inner Asia is written by a textbook academic: bibliographer of Central Asian Studies in the Oriental Division of the New York Public Library, and the book lives up to every stereotype one would imagine.

Beginning in the year 622, the tome moves at a dizzying pace through a whirlwind of unpronounceable names and impossible to remember dates. It accomplishes this twelve hundred year overview in the next 200 pages. The final third of the book deals with Russian conquest in the late 1800’s, Soviet rule, and culminates with the  current situation.

If Mr. Soucek were a college professor, from this history, one would imagine him to have all the trappings of a caricature. He writes with verve on a history that should likely bore many. He hops from one dynasty to the next, from one generation of Mongols to the next, from one ancient silk road city to the next, and gives the impression that he’s doing so with utter glee. He’ll often skip back and reference previous rulers just to give contrast to the current figure in question. Mr. Soucek’s command of the material is impeccable, and leaves one with the impression he generally feels for the figures he writes about.

The only drawback to this persona is that we occasionally get lost in his excitement, just as an over zealous professor might lose touch with his students. While the jumping back and forth can become a source of confusion, it is a lack of visual aids that is likely to do the casual reader in. Since his subject matter takes place so long before national borders were derived, he relies on the reader having a sound geographic understanding of the region to follow the movement of the peoples he discusses. However, vitally important areas like Transoxania never receives their own maps, and the Syr Darya and Amu Darya rivers can only be found clearly marked in the maps at the beginning of the third to last chapter.

One must also come at the book wishing to appreciate history as the author appreciates it. Namely, descriptions of  the military strategies that Ghengis Kahn employed to build his empire are conspicuously absent, while details on poetic and historically focused regional kings find relatively greater importance.

With a genuine appreciation for the personal quirks of a clearly brilliant academic, a passion for Central Asian history, as well as some good maps, this book is an elucidating delight on a little understood region. However, without a commitment to this text, the reader will likely become easily bored, and drop it for something more readily graspable. However, A History of Inner Asia is definitely worth the effort.

Read with a good collection of supporting resources for frequent reference.