"This is a book of tremendous importance, offering a much more accurate and human picture of life in medieval Eurasia than we have had before. Jonathan Skaff skillfully demonstrates the complexity of identities of many different figures, ranging from enslaved people and borderland herders to government interpreters and elite nomadic leaders. Using textual and material sources drawn from archaeological discoveries in medieval East Eurasian tombs in the past few decades, many of which have not been seriously treated in English before, Skaff makes an original argument for the complicated nature of transregional and transcultural exchanges, uncovering a previously unknown world." --Xin Wen, author of The King's Road: Diplomacy and the Remaking of the Silk Road "Written with great clarity and skillfully using evidence from written and archaeological sources, Silk Roads, Steppe Roads offers profound insights into the organization of daily life in medieval Eastern Eurasia." --Shing Muller, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich "An important contribution to the field." --Susan Whitfield, author of Silk, Slaves, and Stupas: Material Culture of the Silk Road "This book is a major step forward in our historical knowledge of cultural change, assimilation, and adaptation in Tang China. Skaff's meticulous study of written and material evidence proposes a rich and varied picture of a time in which China was especially open to foreign influence. The book's wide-ranging investigation of archaeological remains sets a new standard for future interpretations of the role and meaning of what is called the 'Silk Road' in medieval China.

" --Nicola Di Cosmo, coauthor of Venice and the Mongols: The Eurasian Exchange That Transformed the Medieval World.