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Title: The Book of Roads and Kingdoms
Written by: Richard Fidler
Bestselling author
Australian author
Winner Indie Book Awards / Non Fiction 2023
A lost imperial city, full of wonder and marvels. An empire that was the largest the world had ever seen, established with astonishing speed. A people obsessed with travel, knowledge and adventure.
When Richard Fidler came across the account of Ibn Fadlan – a tenth-century Arab diplomat who travelled all the way from Baghdad to the cold riverlands of modern-day Russia – he was struck by how modern his voice was, like that of a 21st century time-traveller dropped into a medieval wilderness. On further investigation, Fidler discovered this was just one of countless reports from Arab and Persian travellers of their adventures in medieval China, India, Africa and Byzantium. Put together, he saw these stories formed a crazy quilt picture of a lost world.
The Book of Roads & Kingdoms is the story of the medieval wanderers who travelled out to the edges of the known world during Islam's fabled Golden Age – an era when the caliphs of Baghdad presided over a dominion greater than the Roman Empire at its peak, stretching from North Africa to India. Imperial Baghdad, founded as the 'City of Peace', quickly became the biggest and richest metropolis in the world.
'Fidler’s prose is lively and entertaining; he has a great affection for his subject and often describes it in a way that makes it seem magical.' (on Ghost Empire)
Library Journal
'Fidler displays great charm in the telling of his tale, spicing it with delicious gossip.' (on Ghost Empire)
The New York Times Book Review
'While Fidler taught science for 31 years, he’s never bound by jargon or dry abstraction. He joyfully mixes science with personal anecdotes, poetry (his own) and will “freely use the word love,” to talk about nature.' (on Out of the Corner of Your Eye)
Tom Springer, author of The Star in the Sycamore and Looking for Hickories
'Spend time with this book. It will encourage you to venture into the wilderness of your own backyard and more fully experience the countless marvels that are always there, ready to amaze us.' (on Out of the Corner of Your Eye)
Tim Mulherin, author of Sand, Stars, Wind, & Water: Field Notes from Up North
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