Unravelling the Silk Road: Travels and Textiles in Central Asia by Chris Aslan

Three textile roads weave through Central Asia: the Silk Road linking East and West, the Wool Road enabling nomads to brave harsh winters, and the Cotton Road, marked by greed and environmental disaster. In “Unravelling the Silk Road”, Chris Aslan unravels this history, blending human stories, trade, and his fifteen years of living in the region.

Three textile roads tangle their way through Central Asia. The famous Silk Road united east and west through trade. Older still was the Wool Road, of critical importance when houses made from wool enabled nomads to traverse the inhospitable winter steppes. Then there was the Cotton Road, marked by greed, colonialism and environmental disaster. At this intersection of human history, fortunes were made and lost through shimmering silks, life-giving felts and gossamer cottons.

Chris Aslan, who has spent fifteen years living and working in the region, expertly unravels the strands of this tangled history and embroiders them with his own experiences of life in the heart of Asia.

Paperback