No animal is so entangled in human history as the horse. The thread starts in prehistory with
a slight shy animal hunted for food. Domesticating the horse allowed early humans to settle
the vast Eurasian steppe later their horses enabled new forms of warfare encouraged
long-distance trade routes and acquired cultural and religious significance. Over time horses
came to power empires in Iran Afghanistan China India and Russia. David Chaffetz tells
the story of how the horse made rulers raiders and traders interchangeable providing a novel
explanation for the turbulent history of the "Silk Road" which might be better called the
Horse Road. Drawing on recent research in fields including genetics and forensic archaeology
Chaffetz presents a lively history of the great horse empires that shaped civilisation.
