Allen J. Frank

This volume of the Cambridge History of Inner Asia covers the Mongol Empire and its successor states from the rise of Genghis Khan ca 1200 until the completion of the Russian conquest of Central Asia in the late nineteenth century.

Well, there are some gaps; most notably, the Yuan dynasty is only treated peripherally, presumably because it got the better part of a volume to itself in the Cambridge History of China*. For less obvious reasons, there's no chapter or section focusing on the Jungar**, whose created what was arguably the last great steppe empire in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries before coming up second best against the Qing. They play major roles in several chapters, but always as enemies of the group or state in focus.

The early chapters about the rise of the Mongol Empire and the early stages of its disintegration didn't interest me too much; while competent, they tell stories I've read in more detailed versions elsewhere. More interesting were the middle and later chapters detailing the evolutions of steppe polities in the late middle and early modern ages, as well as their gradual incorporation in the Russian and Qing empires.

* In another form of overlap, di Cosmo's chapter here on the Qing conquests in the steppes, the Tarim basin, and Tibet is very similar to his chapter on the same in the Cambridge History of China volume on the early Qing dynasty.

** AKA Junghar, Dzungar, Zungar, and other variants. They're sometimes also known as Kalmyks, Qalmaqs, or Qalmïqs.… (mais)

I'd better explain my three stars. They aren't criticism, just a lack of enthusiasm. Clearly I'm spoilt by the Cambridge China for size, after which this (and my Turkey 1, too) look dwarfed. Also, there is DeWeese on Islamization (15 pages) and Thomas Allsen on Mongols as vectors for cultural transmission (20 pages): these are shortened versions of their books. In the chapter list, only these two are cultural in focus, but if you've read their books...

There are 410 pages of text here, that cover 1200-1886. As I say, I'm spoilt by my China volumes -- which are only getting bigger lately (I have the new Sung. Part 1. 907-1279 and swallows two of The Chinggisid Age).

My stars are interim, as I haven't read the later parts. They may be of more value to me exactly because I am less acquainted.… (mais)