Born in 1971, Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at Oxford University. His first major work, The First Crusade: The Call from the East (2012), was acclaimed as the most significant contribution to re-thinking the origins and causes of the First Crusade in a generation (The Times Literary Supplement). Frankopan gained international recognition with his 2015 bestseller, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World, which was described in the Berliner Zeitung as “not just the most important history bool in years, but the most important in decades.” It was named one of The Sunday Times Books of the Decade (2010–2019) and ranked among the 25 most important books translated into Chinese, alongside Pride and Prejudice and One Hundred Years of Solitude. His follow-up, The New Silk Roads: The Present and Future of the World (2018), won the Carical Prize for Social Sciences in 2019.
His latest book, The Earth Transformed: An Untold History (2023), explores the impact of climate, nature, and the environment on human history since the dawn of civilization. A global bestseller was named Book of the Year by The Financial Times, The Sunday Times, Le Point, The Guardian, and The Times. The Financial Times wrote, « Humanity has transformed the Earth. Frankopan transforms our understanding of history. » Meanwhile, Le Monde compared his significance as a historian to that of Marx and Engels. A Fellow of multiple esteemed institutions, including the Royal Historical Society, the Royal Geographic Society, the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Asiatic Society, and the Royal Anthropological Institute, Frankopan also serves as President of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs. He regularly advises governments and international organizations on global affairs. Often described as a « rockstar academic » (BBC, New Statesman, The Times, Der Spiegel), he has been called « the first great historian of the 21st century » (DCM Magazine).