Critical Raves for SILK ROAD TO RUIN

Reviews are starting to come in, and so far they’re unanimously positive. I don’t know whether they’ll translate to sales, but consider that “Taliban,” the 2000 book by Ahmed Rashid (who wrote my introduction), sold a few thousand copies before 9/11 and over 5 million after 9/11. Of course, 9/11 might never have happened had 5 million Americans bought “Taliban” BEFORE 9/11.

Anyway, here are the latest reviews:

School Library Journal, naming “Silk Road to Ruin” one of its Best Adult Books for High School Students of 2006:

“Cartoon journalist Rall explored the former USSR states up close and with daring personal encounters. His narrative report is incisive, insightful, and complete with graphic novella asides.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune/Copley News Service:

“‘Silk Road to Ruin’ is a crash course on Central Asia, essential for anyone who’s at all interested in what the U.S. is up to (see: oil, projection of power) in the region, and what’s likely in store for us (see: blowback). Although at one border Rall’s American passport was the first the guards had ever seen, mostly he wasn’t treading fresh ground: American bootprints are all over Central Asia, as he documents thoroughly and, through some odd alchemy, delightfully.”

The Boston Globe:

“‘Silk Road to Ruin’ is the kind of history you wish schools taught. Stuffed with information, characterized by courage, it slams Central Asia, which contains the world’s largest reserves of oil and natural gas, even as it celebrates it.”