Wheeler Thackston on his translation of the Gulistan: "Even if I were able to produce rhyming couplets in English to match Sa'di's poetry, I would not do it. The genre has long since become hopelessly old-fashioned if not irretrievably archaic" Me:

Drops today: this week's ARB New Books Network 📚 podcast features Nicholas Gordon in conversation with Rachel Kousser, author of “Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great” Mariner Books asianreviewofbooks.com/content/podcas…

Black Myth: Wukong - if you’re wondering which English translation of “Journey to the West” to read, start with Minjie Chen’s wonderful review in Los Angeles Review of Books lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-chin… Jeff Wasserstrom

Learn more about how the steppe peoples disputed the control of horse power in my new book, raiders-rulers-and-traders.com

Alexander spent his last years fighting the steppe peoples.

This is important because the older view, that horses were used for transport and warfare in the 3rd millennium, underlies the myth of ancient Europe’s conquest by the “blond beasts” of Nietzsche’s imagination.

Professor Thackston is the epitome of scholarly good sense.

Here’s a good deal on the audio version of Raiders, for your long flights, road trips and endless commutes. audiobooks.com/promotions/pro…

"For much of his life, Jay Prosser was uncertain of where he belonged. He was 'Jewish and not, British and Asian, Iraqi, English, Welsh, Chinese'." Elizabeth Lawrence reviews “Loving Strangers: A Camphorwood Chest, A Legacy, A Son Returns” asianreviewofbooks.com/content/loving…

Me: Aam meetha hain? Fruit seller: Chini hain chini ... Me: Sach? Fruit seller: Itna meetha hain ki heart attack ho jayega ... Me: Oh Fruit seller: Phir bhi aap aam khatey rahengey ... (This is why I live in this country. This is why I don't like shopping in malls.)

🚨 NEW EPISODE 🚨 I talked to David Chaffetz (david chaffetz) about his book "Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires" (W. W. Norton & Company, 2024) Listen below or wherever you get your podcasts ⬇️ newbooksnetwork.com/raiders-rulers…

newbooksnetwork.com/raiders-rulers…

We r back in the era when one autocrat gives another a squadron of fine horses. Putin sends dashing horseman Kim Jung-Un 24 Orlov Trotters,bred in 18thC by Count Alexei ‘Scarface’ Orlov, naval commander of Catherine the Great, victor of Chesme,brother of her lover PrinceGrigory

Taylor’s book is very well done but this first paragraphs of this article remind me a bit of the back cover of Raiders. washingtonpost.com/comments?story…

Turkey’s language reforms from the 1920s onward promoted mass education, but cut its population off from their past in Ottoman records and literature. That may be about to change, wrote Sara Tor for New Lines Magazine last year. Still worth reading. newlinesmag.com/essays/how-tur…

Drops today: this week's ARB @newbooksnetwork podcast features Nicholas Gordon in conversation with david chaffetz about new book “Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires” W. W. Norton & Company asianreviewofbooks.com/content/podcas…

I can hardly wait to fly to Tashkent tomorrow because I’ll have 6.5 blissfully undisturbed hours to get stuck into my September reading list. 🧵

david chaffetz Elif Shafak FourbearsBooks geo-cafe I picked Empire of Refugees for Royal Society for Asian Affairs’ autumn Reading Room event. It’s about the North Caucasian Muslims who sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century & the impact their migration had. amzn.to/3Te2lZJ

Very pleased to receive a copy of Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires by David Chaffetz (2024) david chaffetz from W. W. Norton UK as supplied by Aunty Lesley of Bridge Books Bridge Books Dromore Co Down 📚 who can talk herself hoarse every day, so she can #history

#newyorktimes reviews my book and the excellent Hoofbeats by William Taylor.