Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia - Annotated by Michal Biran & Jonathan Z Brack & Francesca Fiaschetti (Hardcover)

About the Book

"During the 13th and 14th centuries, Chinggis Khan and his heirs established the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world, extending from Korea to Hungary, Iraq to Tibet, Burma to Siberia. Ruling over roughly two thirds of the Old World, the Mongol Empire enabled people, ideas, and objects to traverse immense geographical and cultural boundaries. Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia reveals the individual stories of three key groups-military commanders, merchants, and intellectuals-from across Eurasia. These annotated biographies bring to the fore a compelling picture of the Mongol Empire pulled from a wide range of historical sources in multiple languages, providing important insights into a period unique for its rapid and far-reaching transformations. Read together or separately, they offer the perfect starting point for any discussion of the Mongol Empire's impact on China, the Muslim world, and the West, as well as for illustrating the scale, diversity, and creativity of the cross-cultural exchange along the continental and maritime Silk Roads. Features and Benefits: Synthesizes historical information from Chinese, Arabic, Persian, and Latin sources that are otherwise inaccessible to English-speaking audiences. Presents in an accessible manner individual life stories that serve as a spring board for discussing themes such as military expansion, cross cultural contacts, migration, conversion, gender, diplomacy, trans-regional commercial networks and more. Each chapter includes a bibliography to assist students and instructors seeking to further explore the individuals and topics discussed. Informative maps, images, and tables throughout the volume supplement each biography"--

Book Synopsis

During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Chinggis Khan and his heirs established the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world, extending from Korea to Hungary and from Iraq, Tibet, and Burma to Siberia. Ruling over roughly two thirds of the Old World, the Mongol Empire enabled people, ideas, and objects to traverse immense geographical and cultural boundaries. Along the Silk Roads in Mongol Eurasia reveals the individual stories of three key groups of people--military commanders, merchants, and intellectuals--from across Eurasia. These annotated biographies bring to the fore a compelling picture of the Mongol Empire from a wide range of historical sources in multiple languages, providing important insights into a period unique for its rapid and far-reaching transformations.

Read together or separately, they offer the perfect starting point for any discussion of the Mongol Empire's impact on China, the Muslim world, and the West and illustrate the scale, diversity, and creativity of the cross-cultural exchange along the continental and maritime Silk Roads.

Features and Benefits:

• Synthesizes historical information from Chinese, Arabic, Persian, and Latin sources that are otherwise inaccessible to English-speaking audiences.
• Presents in an accessible manner individual life stories that serve as a springboard for discussing themes such as military expansion, cross-cultural contacts, migration, conversion, gender, diplomacy, transregional commercial networks, and more.
• Each chapter includes a bibliography to assist students and instructors seeking to further explore the individuals and topics discussed.
• Informative maps, images, and tables throughout the volume supplement each biography.

From the Back Cover

"A lively read. . . . the book will have wide appeal for the classroom, as students will engage with vivid examples of human experience rather than plow their way through a tome."--Diane Wolff, author of Batu, Khan of the Golden Horde: The Mongol Khans Conquer Russia

"Using Chinese and Islamic primary sources, this book shows the extraordinary ethnic diversity and geographical mobility of those who served the thirteenth-century Mongol conquerors. It will prove of immense interest and value to scholars and students working on a landmark period in global history."--Peter Jackson, author of The Mongols and the Islamic World: From Conquest to Conversion

"This volume is the very best example of what the new 'Global Middle Ages' can produce. These biographies capture the complexity of the Mongol Empire, painting vibrant portraits of travelers and those who facilitated others' travel. This book will transform the way Mongol history is taught."--Monica H. Green, editor of Pandemic Disease in the Medieval World: Rethinking the Black Death

Review Quotes

"This book collects a rich parterre of scholars and makes use of Chinese, Persian, Arabic, Latin, Russian, Armenian and many other sources: it certainly leaves the impression of a 'thorough work' and a remarkable instrument for the scientific community."

-- "Eurasian Studies"

"The volume can serve very well as an introduction to the history of the Mongol world because the authors take so many different perspectives."
-- "Der Islam"

"Along the Silk Roads is an excellent addition to both Mongol Empire studies and the Global Middle Ages. Collectively, its chapters illustrate well the sheer scale of the political, economic, and intellectual world forged through the Mongol conquests and the ways in which individual human beings experienced this vast new world. . . . [And it] contributes to the much-needed task of repositioning Europe and the Mediterranean world vis-à-vis the rest of the medieval world and constructing a truly global view of the Middle Ages."-- "Journal of Asian Studies"

"More important, however, is to emphasize the quality of the biographies in this volume, which can serve as models for future works on scientists, painters, craftsmen, and doctors of the Mongol period."-- "Silk Road"

"Yet another entry in the exciting work being undertaken on the Mongols' pluralist world."-- "Asian Review of Books"

"An extremely welcome collection. . . . Biran, Brack, and Fiaschetti have succeeded in assembling a collection of papers that reflect the extraordinary cultural vitality and ethnic diversity of the Chinggisid empire."

-- "Journal of Islamic Studies"

About the Author

Michal Biran teaches Inner Asian, Chinese, and Islamic history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Jonathan Brack teaches Middle East Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Francesca Fiaschetti teaches Inner and East Asian History at the University of Vienna.