How Asia's great civilization spread when its traveling merchants, scholars, and holy men brought their shining civilization to Europe's Dark Ages. While European intellectual, cultural, and commercial life stagnated during the early medieval period, Asia flourished as the wellspring of science, philosophy, and religion. Linked together by a web of religious, commercial, and intellectual connections, the different regions of Asia's vast civilization, from Arabia to China, hummed with commerce, international diplomacy, and the brisk exchange of ideas. Stewart Gordon has fashioned a fascinating and unique look at Asia from A.D. 700 to 1500, a time when Asia was the world, by describing the personal journeys of Asia's many travelers--the merchants who traded spices along the Silk Road, the apothecaries who exchanged medicine and knowledge from China to the Middle East, and the philosophers and holy men who crossed continents to explore and exchange ideas, books, science, and culture.

【美】斯图亚特•戈登(Stewart Gordon) 密西根大学南亚研究中心研究员。

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斯图亚特•戈登并非一本正经的学者，他老是搭着巴士在土耳其、伊朗、阿富汗、巴基斯坦与印度闲晃，爬上秘鲁印加古道，或是乘船沿湄公河或密西西比河逆流而上。

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戈登曾拍摄柬埔寨的古物与印度的旧石器时代岩窟壁画。他也是历史频道、探索频道、迪斯尼公司与美洲女王汽船公司的顾问。戈登亦曾荣获伍德罗•威尔逊奖学金、傅尔布莱特奖学金以及埃尔哈特基金会写作补助等多个奖项。戈登目前住在美国安娜堡，你可以在stewartgordonhistorian.com追踪其学术动态及其游历世界各地的照片。