William T. Taylor's "Hoof Beats"

William T. Taylor is an Assistant Professor and Curator of Archaeology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, whose work explores the domestication of the horse and the ancient relationships between people and animals.

He applied the "Page 99 Test" to his new book, Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History, and reported the following:

The reader flipping to page 99 of Hoof Beats will encounter a two-page map spread showing how horses and horse riding spread out of Inner Asia and into Africa, and the links and trade routes created by the Silk Road, Tea Horse Road, and steppe empires. This moment in the book also marks a key turning point in the human-horse story, as the narrative shifts from an investigation into the origins of horse domestication to an exploration of the dynamic ways that horse riding built steppe empires and forged new links across the ancient world.

Turning past page 99, the reader will find themselves knee-deep in an exposition of ancient archaeological discoveries from Mongolia, the focus of my own work and the core of the book’s new scholarship. The Mongolian steppes served as the staging ground for many of the most important changes to people, horses and the ancient world – from the innovation of the saddle and stirrup to the emergence of pan-Eurasian empires and early global trade routes. I think the Page 99 Test nicely encapsulates the role of visual storytelling in Hoof Beats, and the integrated, global perspective that the book takes to understanding the human-horse relationship.

Visit William T. Taylor's website.

--Marshal Zeringue