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Join Boffins Books and the University Club of Western Australia for an in-conversation event with writer-broadcaster and best selling author Richard Fidler on his new book The Book of Roads & Kingdoms. Richard will be joined in conversation with journalist William Yeoman.
A lost imperial city, full of wonder and marvels. An empire that was the largest the world had ever seen, established with astonishing speed. A people obsessed with travel, knowledge and adventure.
When Richard Fidler came across the account of Ibn Fadlan – a tenth-century Arab diplomat who travelled all the way from Baghdad to the cold riverlands of modern-day Russia – he was struck by how modern his voice was, like that of a twenty-first century time-traveller dropped into a medieval wilderness. On further investigation, Fidler discovered this was just one of countless reports from Arab and Persian travellers of their adventures in medieval China, India, Africa and Byzantium. Put together, he saw that these stories formed a crazy-quilt picture of a lost world.
The Book of Roads & Kingdoms is the story of the medieval wanderers who travelled out to the edges of the known world during Islam’s fabled Golden Age; an era when the caliphs of Baghdad presided over a dominion greater than the Roman Empire at its peak, stretching from North Africa to India. Imperial Baghdad, founded as the ‘City of Peace’, quickly became the biggest and richest metropolis in the world. Standing atop one of the city’s four gates, its founder proclaimed: Here is the Tigris River, and nothing stands between it and China.
The Book of Roads & Kingdoms is released 19th October. Pre-order your copy today!
Make a night of it! By attending this event you have exclusive access to the University Club's award-winning dining outlets on the day of the show. Whether it be for a casual drink and bite to eat in the Club Cafe and Bar or a more formal dining experience in the Club Restaurant, your ticket gives you an access-all-areas to the University Club.
Club restaurant bookings: 6488 8770
Can't make it? We'll happily arrange to have a copy of The Book of Roads & Kingdoms signed for you. Simply contact us via phone, email or visit us in-store and we'll take care of the rest.
