Journeys on the Silk Road

August 6, 2012
In 1907, Hungarian explorer and archeologist Aurel Stein and his terrier, Dash, reached a remote Chinese cave housing a cache of ancient Buddhist scrolls. The grotto had been sealed off in the 11th century, and was being guarded by a Tibetan monk who allowed Stein to remove several specimens, including a woodblock-printed copy of the Diamond Sutraâdating back to 868 A.D.; it is the worldâs oldest printed text. Morgan and Waltersâs narrative is a captivating biography of the intrepid Stein, an intriguing history of the Sutra and the political and social upheavals that surrounded it, and an enthralling travelogue in its own right. Stein's expeditionsâacross scorching deserts and through frigid mountain passesâare described in detail, as is the journey of the Diamond Sutra from Stein's possession, to the British Museum in Bloomsbury (where, ironically, it was consigned again to a cave of sortsâthe museumâs basement), to a stint in Wales during WWII when Britain funneled its most precious treasures out of the country for safekeeping. Both experienced journalists, the authors do an impeccable job of bringing readers into the action and situating the story in a broaderâthough no less rivetingâhistorical context.

September 15, 2012
What traveler doesn't yearn to set the first foot on untraversed territory and to discover the rarest gem of all, that which no human has laid eyes upon for a thousand years? Morgan and Conrad allow the reader to accomplish the next best thing. In this expressive account, they and, by proxy, we follow the footsteps of archeologist Aurel Stein as he explores the remains of cultures along the ancient trade route known as the Silk Road. Traveling this legendary trail in the early years of the twentieth century, the intrepid Stein made discoveries that rival the great tombs of Egypt in sheer beauty and human achievement, to say nothing of in terms of the evidence of remarkable commingling of East and West in commerce, art, and philosophy. The excitement mounts as Stein faces strife and competition to unearth and claim such rare antiquities as the Diamond Sutra, a printed paper book predating the Gutenberg Bible by 600 years. The good if somewhat worrisome news is that these invaluable sites, long reserved for the most elite traveler, have become easily accessible and hugely popular.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)