Description
Book SynopsisLight, portable and high in value, amber is an ideal commodity for long-distance trade. An Amber Route, comparable to the Silk Road, ran from the Baltic to the Mediterranean for thousands of years.
In Along the Amber Route, C.J. Schüler follows this route by bus, train and boat for 2,500 kilometres along river valleys, forest paths and Roman roads. His journey traces both the greatest fault lines of European geopolitics and his own family’s history. As he explores lands contested by Romans and Vandals, Teutons and Slavs, lost empires and the former Iron Curtain, Schüler must also confront his own family history, Nazism and the Holocaust.
Trade ReviewCharming.
* The Daily Mail *
Wonderful account of the story of amber.
* Late Night Live on ABC *
This timely and powerful book is more than an enticing travelogue or a paean to amber.
* The Financial Times *
Packed with intriguing diversions through former Soviet states, the author's journey begins in St Petersburg's Amber Room and intertwines with the story of his grandfather's flight from Nazi Germany.
* Lonely Planet *
A rich and rewarding read, providing a kaleidoscopic multi-layered view of Central Europe.’
* BookBlast *
Crisp, quirky dialogue and incisive scene-sketching [...] full of incident and anecdote and the oddest facts imaginable. Pure pleasure.
Artfully woven into these stories is a contemporary travelogue of [Schüler’s] experience; a poetic memoir of his experience of constantly moving through these landscapes
An excellent book, and perfect holiday reading. Deeply moving.
* Edward Biddulph, Oxford Archaeology *
Schüler is the perfect guide to this complex history.
* Vanora Bennett *
