Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World

Description

Humans have been on the move for most of history. Even after the great urban advancement lured people into the great cities of Uruk, Babylon, Rome and Chang'an, most of us continued to live lightly on the move and outside the pages of history. But recent discoveries have revealed another story . . . Wandering people built the first great stone monuments, such as the one at Gobekli Tepe, seven thousand years before the pyramids. They tamed the horse, fashioned the composite bow, fought with the Greeks and hastened the end of the Roman Empire. They had a love of poetry and storytelling, a fascination for artistry and science, and a respect for the natural world rooted in reliance and their belief. Embracing multiculturalism, their need for free movement and open markets brought a glorious cultural flourishing to Eurasia, enabling the Renaissance and changing the human story. Reconnecting with our deepest mythology, our unrecorded antiquity and our natural environment, Nomads is the untold history of civilisation, told through its outsiders.

Anthony Sattin is a journalist, broadcaster and the author of several highly acclaimed books of history and travel including The Gates of Africa, Lifting the Veil and A Winter on the Nile. He is editorial advisor on Geographical Magazine, a contributing editor to Conde Nast Traveller and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He lives in London and the Middle East.

In a book of sensitivity and grace, Sattin does not just describe the nomadic way of life, but also evokes it . . . This is a book of beauty and beguiling rhythm that offers unsettling lessons about our present-day world of borders -- The Times Thoughtful, lyrical yet ambitiously panoramic . . . As fleet and light-footed as its subject, it takes us along a dizzying path, over many of the highest ridges of human history . . . An important, generous and beautifully-written book -- William Dalrymple, author of 'The Anarchy' A terrific storyteller -- New York Times A fabulous piece of evocative writing, mixing personal stories with an epic sweep of history, the unique insight of location and an intimate connection to the subject. I loved it -- Jerry Brotton, author of 'A History of the World in Twelve Maps' Anthony Sattin's Nomads spreads before us a sweeping panorama of nomadism that resonates through the past and echoes poignantly even in the present -- Colin Thubron, author of 'Shadow of the Silk Road' I was riveted by the shifts to nomadic culture, Sapiens-like, and by the feeling of learning lightly worn and deftly transmitted. This is a major book -- Roland Philipps, author of 'A Spy Named Orphan' The saga of the lost mobile cultures and empires that have impacted global history . . . a spirited defence of freedom of conscience, freedom of movement and migration, a romantic tribute to independence and to free spirit, and to being in tune with the rhythms of nature -- Marc David Baer, author of 'The Ottomans' An incredible work combining brilliant scholarship with an epic, page-turning narrative . . . His landmark book -- Nicholas Crane Sweeping . . . Poetic . . . Sattin brings together a huge range of material with great elegance, making it not only readable but also vital -- Literary Review Exceptional . . . tender and beautifully written -- Jason Goodwin, Country Life Nomads is a kind of rhapsody on how this aspect of human nature has contributed as much, if not more, to civilization, than the tillers of the soil -- Asian Review of Books Nomads is a monumental work, exhaustively researched that sets out to explain nomadism, its importance, rise and decline over the centuries in the minutest detail -- Irish Examiner Not only readable but also vital -- Literary Review Triumphantly tells the story of another way of living . . . This is a book that does not labour in the fields but gallops full stretch towards the horizon -- Spectator A much-needed act of historical revisionism -- Times Literary Supplement