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The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China 221 B.C. to AD 1757 (Studies in Social Discontinuity) | 
 enlarge | Author: Thomas J. Barfield
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Category: Book
List Price: $36.95
Buy New: $33.25
You Save: $3.70 (10%)
New (13) Used (12) from $18.48
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 338489
Media: Paperback
Pages: 342
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 1557863245
Dewey Decimal Number: 990
EAN: 9781557863249
ASIN: 1557863245
Publication Date: February 3, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
Around 800 BC, the Eurasian steppe underwent a profound cultural transformation that was to shape world history for the next 2,500 years: the nomadic herdsmen of Inner Asia invented cavalry which, with the use of the compound bow, gave them the means to terrorize first their neighbors and ultimately, under Chingis Khan and his descendants, the whole of Asia and Europe. Why and how they did so and to what effect are the themes of this history of the nomadic tribes of Inner Asia - the Mongols, Turks, Uighurs and others, collectively dubbed the Barbarians by the Chinese and the Europeans.
This two-thousand year history of the nomadic tribes is drawn from a wide range of sources and told with unprecedented clarity and pace. The author shows that to describe the tribes as barbaric is seriously to underestimate their complexity and underlying social stability. He argues that their relationship with the Chinese was as much symbiotic as parasitic and that they understood their dependence on a strong and settled Chinese state. He makes sense of the apparently random rise and fall of these mysterious, obscure and fascinating nomad confederacies.
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| Customer Reviews:
A fascinating recasting of the dynamics of Chinese history June 16, 2000
Tom Lum Forest (Forest Grove, OR USA)
28 out of 29 found this review helpful
Barfield's primary thesis is that the dynamics of Chinese civilization are not intelligible considered in isoloation. Rather, comprehension requires the distinction between Manchurian and Native dynasties and the role that empires of the steppe played in the changes between them.Of special interest is that by far the best know steppe empire, that of the Mongols under Temujin and his successors, was an anomalous exception to the 2,000 year pattern. Typical steppe empires were interested in extortion (or tribute, or gifts, depending on who tells the story), not direct rule. If you're a student of Chinese history or of the dynamics of civilizations, read this book. You'll think differently.
Tough, but good August 24, 2005
Dan (Flanders, NJ)
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
My history professor claims that this is one book which former students complain about years after having read it. It is dense. There are lots of odd names which run together. It is absolutely not for the casual reader. But I would consider it necessary reading for all scholars of China, Asia, or just history in general. I found it fascinating that the steppe tribes and the various Chinese governments had a not-always unspoken agreement, in which the tribes were essentially allowed to conquer a limited region of China, in exchange for securing trade routes and defending against tribes outside of the system.
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