"[A] fine, arresting book with a clear and novel thesis and a firm grasp of geography. Good stuff, in short... strongly recommended." -- William H. McNeill"The reader will find here useful information and much food for thought; a book of such a broad scope is rare and has much to recommend it." -- Speculum"... encyclopedic... there is no book quite like this one." -- Choice"... a colorful canvas depicting the torrential movements of Eurasian warriors and merchants on ship-boards and horseback between Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific coasts, between streams of accumulated goods and tensions, religious fervor and insatiable greed... " -- Ural-Altaic Yearbook"A healthy antidote to the parochialism that characterizes so much of the run-of-the-mill output of medieval history... " -- American Historical ReviewEmphasizing geographical, maritime, institutional, and economic factors, Lewis presents a wide-ranging story of the complex rise and fall of civilizations and explores new conceptual frontiers in the study of world history.