Peter Hopkirk’s “Foreign Devils on the Silk Road” details the tales and adventures of western explorers who uncovered and claimed the lost treasures of Central Asia. The Silk road, which linked imperial Rome and distant China, was once the greatest thoroughfare on earth. Along it traveled precious cargoes of silk, gold and ivory as well as revolutionary new ideas. Its oasis towns blossomed into thriving centres of Buddhist art & learning.In time it began to decline. The traffic slowed, the merchants left and finally its towns vanished beneath the desert sands to be forgotten for a thousand years. But legends grew up of lost cities filled with treasures and guarded by demons. In the early years of the twentieth century foreign explorers began to investigate these legends, and very soon an international race began for the art treasures of the Silk Road. Huge wall paintings, sculptures & priceless manuscripts were carried away, literally by the tone, and are today scattered through the museums of a dozen countries.This book tells the story of the handful of intrepid men who, at great personal risk, led these long-range archeological raids, incurring the undying wrath of the Chinese.Peter Hopkirk is a veteran journalist and is widely recognized as an authority on the complex history of Central Asia. This is one of several books he has written on the region.