Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University. His book, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World was described as ‘magnificent’ (Sunday Times) ‘ dazzling’ (Guardian), ‘a rare book that makes you question your assumptions about the world’ (Wall St Journal), ‘a treasure’ (Libre Belgique), ‘phenomenal’ (Die Welt), ‘a joy’ (Le Point) and ‘not just the most important history book in years, but the most important in decades’ (Berliner Zeitung). A New York Times Bestseller, it has topped the Non-Fiction charts all around the world, including in the UK, India and China. In 2018, it was named as one of the 25 most important books translated into Chinese over the last 40 years, along with The Great Gatsby and Pride and Prejudice. Daily Telegraph History Book of the Year, it was named as a Sunday Times Book of the Decade (2010-20).
Peter’s most recent book is The Earth Transformed: an Untold History which looks at the natural environment and the role it has played in shaping the past. It was named The Times History Book of the Year, and was a Financial Times, Guardian/Observer, Independent, BBC History, New Yorker, Frontline (The Hindu), New Zealand Herald Book of the Year. An instant bestseller in the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada and Germany, it has been described as ‘an endlessly fascinating…with the intellectual weight and dramatic force of a tsunami’ (The Times), ‘masterly’ (Observer), ‘a dazzling compendium of global research’ (Spectator), ‘an epic historical saga’ (TLS) ‘a staggering, almost insanely ambitious book’ (Volkskrant) and ‘a remarkable piece of work’ (New Indian Express). It is ‘a completely new view of the history of mankind, which sheds a different light on our own future’ (Die Zeit), one that blends ‘brilliant historical writing and cutting-edge scientific research’ (Arab News). ‘Humanity has transformed the Earth’ said the Financial Times, ‘Frankopan transforms our understanding of history.’
Often described as a ‘rockstar’ academic (BBC, New Statesman, VLT, Der Spiegel, he has been called ‘the first great historian of the 21st century’ by Brazil’s DCM magazine.
