Tearing Up the Silk Road: A Modern Journey from China to Istanbul, Through Central Asia, Iran and the Caucasus

Tearing up the Silk Road is an irreverent travelogue that details a journey along the ancient trade routes from China to Istanbul, through Central Asia, Iran and the Caucasus. As Tom Coote struggles through the often arbitrary borders and bureaucracies of China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Armenia, Georgia and Turkey, it becomes apparent that the next generation will see themselves in a very different light to their predecessors. New forms of identity are emerging, founded more upon shared cultural preferences and aspirations that on the remnants of tribal allegiance. While rushing through from East to West, Tom Coote meets, befriends and argues with an epic range of characters; from soldiers and monks, to pilgrims, travellers and modern-day Silk Road traders. All are striving for something more and most dream of being somewhere else. By bus, train and battered car - through deserts, open plains and mountain ranges - Tom finds himself again and again at the front line of a desperate war for hearts and minds. The author effectively juxtaposes personal and historical anecdotes to bring the Silk Road alive for the reader. Through rapidly expanding megacities, to ancient ruins, and far more recently created wastelands, it is the West that is winning the souls while the East grows ever stronger. The real clash of civilizations, however, seems set to be not between the East and the West but between the few who have so much, and the masses now uniting to demand so much more.

REVIEWS

Tearing Up The Silk Road by Tom Coote is the author's travelogue from his hurried trip of nine difficult weeks traveling the Silk Road from China to Istanbul, through Centrl Asia, Iran, and the Caucasus. The Silk Road started in Xian in very ancient times as a trade route for not only silk but many other products, the first trade route established between East and West. The network of roads enabled the establishment of many civilizations and the trade between them, and thriving cities of today had their beginning because of this road in ancient tribal times. Tom meets many interesting and also difficult people along the way, as he travels with the local people on bus, train, and any kind of transport he can find and stays in many dodgy places. In the recording of his trip he describes people, places, and events as well as the history and emerging strides of the various places, which are often not friendly to tourists. He had some narrow escapes on this 2010 venture but gained a deep understanding of why our world is growing smaller and we all need to understand each other as human beings with the same yearnings and sufferings common to us because we are part of the struggling human race. The book is very interesting and informative. The trip is one that few people would want to follow in the same way, making it all the more fascinating that Tom is the one navigating the difficulties bravely.
Bonnie Neely, Real Travel Adventures, 2012/08