Under the name of Central Asia, Tamara Talbot Rice covers in the book a vast region in the broader interpretation of the term, from Transcaucasia to Eastern Turkestan,[1] and a period spanning from prehistoric times to the Middle Ages when Christianity and Islam replaced Buddhism and Zoroastrianism.

In the last chapter the author returns to the west to give an account of the early Christian art of Armenia, Georgia and Caucasian Albania.

In his review for Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies, the British archaeologist David Bivar wrote: 'The illustrations bring together a valuable range of photographs, many previously available to the Western reader only in out-of-the-way Soviet publications.

'[2] The Canadian literary critic George Woodcock also gave the chosen illustrations a positive review, but severely criticised the text: 'The reader will be impressed by the haunting unity which the magnificently chose illustrations evoke, and by the way in which a group of minor schools of art, each influenced by greater traditions at the point of decay (Hellenic, Achaemenian, Byzantine, Indian) and each producing a relatively small number of masterpieces, can emerge when displayed together as a definable Eurasian tradition.

'[3] Lorenz S. Leshnik of Central Asiatic Journal felt that the book is 'well-illustrated', but a 'hurriedly written product', and 'the shortcomings of this volume must give cause for concern'.