A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia. Volume 1: Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire

Christian's volume is a masterpiece of solid scholarship in which he synthesizes an incredible chronological and geographical sweep of the major prehistoric and historic events taking place the vast landmass from Germany, Poland, and Hungary through Mongolia, China, and Korea, and south through Persia/Iran and Afghanistan and into northern India until ca. CE 1300. The "single author" approach show more results in clarity and consistency, a trait lacking in many edited works. He argues forcefully for a holistic assessment of this vast region from an ecological perspective, and concludes that the material and cultural resources that sustained pastoralist empires came, in the main, from the agrarian world. show less