Product Description

The revised second edition of this highly praised introduction to the Mongol Empire takes account of recent scholarship in the field.

• Provides an overview of the government, religion, and politics of the Mongolian Empire
  
• Considers the effects of Mongol military campaigns on other countries and peoples in China, Russia, Persia and Europe
  
• Assesses the astonishing military career of Chingiz (Genghis) Khan
  
• Now includes a new epilogue assessing the contribution of recent scholarship to our understanding of the Mongols’ history
  
• Well–illustrated by maps and photographs throughout

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #327647 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Review
“The remarkable success of David Morgan′s book on the Mongols is partly a reflection of the persistent interest in the Mongol phenomenon … and partly on the skill, humour, and authority that he brings to bear on the subject. An attractive and useful re–edition of an excellent textbook, which beneath its accessible and engaging manner contains a wide–ranging account of the Mongol empire and thorough exposition of the issues being addressed in current research.” International History Review

"The second edition of The Mongols remains the standard work on the Mongols. With the additional chapter and bibliography it is unlikely to be superseded in the near future and will be a useful reference to any scholar."
H–Net Reviews

"I have used this book continually for many years as one of the central textbooks for my courses on Mongols and related subjects and will do so with the new edition. The Mongols has a nice mixture of narrative chapters and those devotes to themes … provide a chronological framework … and in–depth discussion." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies

Praise for the previous edition:

"Well–written, well–documented presentation, with an excellent – exceptionally accurate – bibliography. I know of no better book to give a general view of the ′great′ epoch of Mongol History."
English Historical Review

"The appearance of a new, well–done general history is a welcome event. The outcome is an excellent and readable account."
Middle East Studies Association Bulletin

"Excellent work, the best that we have of its kind."
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

From the Back Cover

The Mongol Empire was the largest continuous land empire known to history, its violent creation the major political event of the thirteenth century world. Yet little is known the history of Christendom′s most formidable eastern neighbour.

In this classic history, David Morgan explains how the vast Mongolian Empire was organized and governed, examining the religious and political character of the steppe nomadic society. He assesses the astonishing military career of Chingiz (Genghis) Khan, considers the nature of Mongol imperial government, and the effects of Mongol campaigns on the countries and peoples they conquered in China, Russia, Persia and Europe. His narrative extends to the collapse of the Empire and the formation of a People’s Republic as a Russian satellite state.

For this second edition, the author provides a new epilogue assessing the contribution of recent scholarship to our understanding of the Mongols′ history, and updating his own interpretations in light of those advances. This new chapter, together with an updated bibliography, will refresh the book for a new generation of readers.

About the Author
David Morgan is Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was previously Reader in the History of the Middle East at SOAS, London.

Customer Reviews

Excellent introduction to an obscure people
Morgan's book is easily the best introduction to one of the more interesting peoples of history. It's as much an account of the historiography of Mongol studies as it is a study of the Mongol people, as Morgan details the extant sources available to modern scholars for the subject. This is important, given the scope of the Mongol empire, which at its peak reached from China to Hungary, encompassing all that was in between. Such breadth of conquest places great demands on historians, limiting anybody who is not a polyglot of the languages of the era to base their study on the region in which they specialize and translations of the other languages. A student of Persian, Morgan makes an excellent case for the quality of the sources in that language.

Still, the lack of a written Mongolian language (not developed until the reign of Chingiz Khan) means that much of the history of the empire is lost to us, and that what does exist is produced by outsiders. Nevertheless, Morgan does a first-rate job of describing its expansion and operation. He explains that the Mongols owed their incredible success to their use of mounted warriors, a natural role for a nomadic people. This heavy use of horses both gave them and also limited their conquests: Morgan theorizes that inadequate pastureland may have been a critical factor in the withdrawal of Mongol invaders from both Hungary in 1242 and Syria in 1260. But the most revealing factor of the importance of the Mongol army in its historical achievements lay in the overthrow of Mongol rule; it was in the areas where the Mongols were able to maintain their nomadic lifestyles (and thus their military advantage) that Mongol control proved most enduring. In all, Morgan provides a good, concise overview of a fascinating subject.