The Mongols and Global History (Norton Documents Reader) by Morris Rossabi

by Morris Rossabi

The volume opens with a brief original essay by Morris Rossabi, one of the world's foremost scholars on the Mongols. Rossabi's essay gives a historical and interpretive overview of the Mongols and charts their invasions and subsequent rule over the largest contiguous land empire in world history. Following is a rich collection of primary sources translated into English from Armenian, Arabic, Chinese, Franco-Italian, Italian, Korean, Latin, Persian, Russian, Syriac, and Tibetan that will give students a clear sense of the extraordinary geographic and linguistic range of the Mongol Empire as well as insight into the empire's rise, how it governed, and how it fell. Each primary source includes a headnote and study questions. The volume ends with a list of further readings.

About the series: The Norton Casebooks in History provide students with everything they need for in-depth study of select topics in major periods studied in American and world history. Each volume consists of an introductory essay by the editor on the topic, primary sources, and recent essays by historians that explore different interpretations. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with contextual and critical materials that bring the topic to life for students.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval, Asia

Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

Reviews

[DillinGer. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was asked to read it for one of my studies at school.
It was an interesting book for me, because it looked as the Mongols from so many different angles. Even though I was often confused by different spellings for the same name, but I still enjoyed reading this book.

[Reading Through the Lists · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of the Norton Documents Reader series, this volume offers a wide range of sources from Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist authors and from China to Western Europe. However, it often fails to provide necessary context for understanding the sources--I needed about 10x the footnotes than were given. I understand wanting to keep the presentation simple and readable, but if you can't understand what's going on, then what's the point?

A few of the sources should prove useful for a Mongol unit I'll be teaching later this semester.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of texts on the reach, perception, and exchanges of the Khanate. Personally, after reading Genghis Khan and the Quest for God: How the World's Greatest Conqueror Gave Us Religious Freedom, reading the Letter of the Great Khan Guyug ot Pope Innocent IV was the most striking.

You have said: ‘Become Christian, it will be good.’ Thou has made thyself wise (or thou hast been presumptuous); thou hast sent a petition. This petition of thine We have not understood.
You have sent words: ‘Thou hast taken all the lands of the Majar and the Christians; I am astonished What was their crime? Tell us.” These worse of thine We have not understood either…The people of those countries, [it was] the Ancient God [who] killed and destroyed them. Except by the command of God, how should anyone kill, how should [anyone] capture by his own strength?
…Thus We inform you. And if you act contrary [thereto], what do We know, God knows.

* * * *
Khublai's most important step in achieving legitimacy was conquest of the Southern Song dynasty.

The Japanese Shogun had repeatedly spurned the Mongol's orders of submission, leading to an abortive Mongol invasion in 1274. The Mongols made elaborate preparations for their next campaign. In June of 1281, a force from North China set forth for Kyushu, to be followed by a detachment from South China. On August 15, a typhoon struck the coast of Kyushu. Many Mongol ships sank, and the troops who had landed on Kyushu were stranded and quickly hunted down. The Japanese considered the typhoon to have been a “Divine Wind” or “Kamikaze.”

[Lucy Barnhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughtfully selected and organized collection of excerpts from primary sources on the Mongol world. Most of these are textual, though a few images are also included. Rossabi's apparatus is intended for the general reader or beginning student, rather than for the scholar; it fulfills its purpose admirably, I think. I've used it in teaching and I like the way that it juxtaposes authors.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource for anyone studying the mongols for a school or university project. Encompasses many passages from primary resources, introduces them brilliantly and provides questions that enhance understanding.