Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
A talk with scholar David Chaffetz on the lively history of the great horse empires that shaped civilisation.
Filmed on 6/11/2025 with a live audience both in person and on Zoom.
In Raiders, Rulers, and Traders, scholar David Chaffetz delves into how horses were not just a means of transportation, but a transformative force that enabled empires to rise, trade routes to form, and cultures to connect from Iran and Afghanistan to China, India, and Russia. By drawing on primary sources in Persian, Turkish, Russian, and Chinese, he presents a comprehensive narrative of how horse-based societies shaped human history from the Bronze Age through the twentieth century.
About the speaker:
David Chaffetz is an independent scholar with a lifelong passion for Middle Eastern and Asian history. His first book, A Journey through Afghanistan, earned critical praise from Owen Latimore, the doyen of Inner Asian studies. Chaffetz has contributed to the Asian Review of Books, the South China Morning Post, the Nikkei Asian Review, and Fortune. He belongs to the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong), the Gremio Literario (Lisbon), and the Explorers’ Club (New York). He serves on the Advisory Committee to the American Library.
Evenings with an Author is generously sponsored by GRoW @ Annenberg.
A talk with scholar David Chaffetz on the lively history of the great horse empires that shaped civilisation.
Filmed on 6/11/2025 with a live audience both in person and on Zoom.
In Raiders, Rulers, and Traders, scholar David Chaffetz delves into how horses were not just a means of transportation, but a transformative force that enabled empires to rise, trade routes to form, and cultures to connect from Iran and Afghanistan to China, India, and Russia. By drawing on primary sources in Persian, Turkish, Russian, and Chinese, he presents a comprehensive narrative of how horse-based societies shaped human history from the Bronze Age through the twentieth century.
About the speaker:
David Chaffetz is an independent scholar with a lifelong passion for Middle Eastern and Asian history. His first book, A Journey through Afghanistan, earned critical praise from Owen Latimore, the doyen of Inner Asian studies. Chaffetz has contributed to the Asian Review of Books, the South China Morning Post, the Nikkei Asian Review, and Fortune. He belongs to the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, the Royal Asiatic Society (Hong Kong), the Gremio Literario (Lisbon), and the Explorers’ Club (New York). He serves on the Advisory Committee to the American Library.
Evenings with an Author is generously sponsored by GRoW @ Annenberg.
