The caravanserai were roadside inns built to shelter men, goods, and animals along the Silk Road that connected China, Central Asia, and Europe in ancient times. These staging posts formed the world’s first globalized overland network and stand as a testament to a flourishing period of multicultural exchange in the Muslim world. Today, the ruined and restored caravanserai of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, captured here by Belgian photographer Tom Schutyser, serve as a platform for an era of renewed cross-cultural exchange. Stunning photographs of these vanishing caravan routes and their surrounding landscapes welcome readers to engage in a dialogue on healing relations between the Muslim and Western worlds, in the same way the inns once welcomed travelers, traders, and pilgrims to share goods, ideas, and discoveries.

Tom Schutyser is a Belgian documentary photographer and researcher. Andrew W. Lawler is a contributing editor to Science and Archaeology. Reza Aslan authored the international bestseller No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. Robert Fisk is an award-winning journalist. Rachid el-Daïf’s novels have been translated from Arabic into 11 languages. Dominique Moïsi is senior adviser at the French Institute for International Relations. Paul Salem is director of the Carnegie Middle East Center, Beirut.