The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia [Hardcover]

Rene Grousset (Author), Naomi Walford (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 687 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers (June 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813506271
• ISBN-13: 978-0813506272
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #516,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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70 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth reading even after six decades, January 6, 2001

By 

Jeffrey L. Guthery (Seoul Korea (South)) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia (Paperback)

I first read this book twelve years ago and have been fascinated with the history of the Central Asian steppes ever since. Rene Grousset was one of those rare writers who could infect the reader with the same enthusiasm and interest that he himself possessed. Naomi Walford did a fantastic job translating from the original French text and retaining the spirit of the work. The 600+ pages cover in chronological order the history of steppe tribes from the Scythians to the Dzungar realm in the late 18th century. Throughout the work Grousset conveys to the reader a detailed picture of the various Turkic, Mongol, and Manchu tribes (and to a lesser extent Indo-Eurpoean tribes), and how political and military control of the steppe regions shifted between these tribes over the centuries. There is also a great deal of coverage on the more well-known known conquerors (Genghis and Kublai Khan, Tamerlane) and their empires. The book contains a great number of quotes from passages recorded by many civilizations throughout history which had come in contact with these Central Asian peoples, and these coupled with Grousset's writing style portray the events and personalities of that distant age in a more intimate light. The fact that Indo-Europeans had co-existed in close proximity to Turkic-Mongol tribes and Chinese peoples long before recorded history was a fascinating revelation to me. In addition to documenting the geographic parameters of the more significant empires and their direct contact with cultures from Poland to Iraq to India to Japan, Grousset also shows how events in Central Asia have indirectly affected distant regions by causing a chain of population displacements that resulted in military conquests far away from Central Asia. Although Grousset often resorted to speculations which have proved in time to be inaccurate, the detraction from the book's overall quality is minimal. One can read one of the many up-to-date books on this subject to clean up Grousset's inaccuracies, but I personally have yet to find one that has been of comparable pleasure to read.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Wrath of Khans, February 19, 2006

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia (Paperback)

A work of historical research is certainly a well-respected classic when it is used as a primary reference in just about every subsequent book on the subject. Rene Grousset's history is truly monumental, covering the vast steppe region from Korea to Hungary, and over the course of around 1500 years, and incorporates several different realms of knowledge that each would require a lifetime of work by most historians. Of course this book offers in-depth coverage of the famous conquerors of the era, such as Attila and Tamerlane, and obviously Jenghiz (Genghis) Khan and his many descendents, but there is also rewarding coverage of many more intriguing (if often bloodthirsty and genocidal) leaders and a great many enigmatic ethnic groups. Note that this book is an especially difficult read, as Grousset's prose often operates in the form of lists, crushed by voluminous references to obscure tribes and individuals, not to mention a continuous parade of geographic locations under names that usually are no longer current. A historical atlas, or several of them, would be of great assistance while you read, while this book would benefit immensely from many, many more maps. Meanwhile, the sheer vastness of the regions and periods covered by Grousset made it structurally impossible for him to cover his subjects in chronological order.

You often despair that it would help to have multiple PhD's in ancient history in order to be able to truly understand this immense tome. But in the end, all of the imposing detail remains truly fascinating, and Grousset offers much food for thought in his underlying themes of human geography. We ultimately learn about the how the geographical and physical characteristics of the steppe environment ensured the emergence of brutal but glorious nomads, who always had a very complex relationship with the settled cultures they were continually conquering. But eventually, the conquerors became the conquered, as the rewards of sedentary civilization brought a slow end to nomadic conquest. Grousset's work is a classic of both minute historical detail and vast human themes. [~doomsdayer520~]

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on the Impact of Nomads on Sedentary Peoples, September 2, 2001

By 

Kung Kuo Chuan (Hong Kong / Taiwan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia (Paperback)

Of the 50+ books I have read on Central Asia, this book is by far the most insightful. This is more than a history of Central Asia -- it is a whole treatise on the impact of the nomads on the sedentary peoples. The book also places a heavy emphasis on the origins of various peoples (Turks, Mongols, etc.) and their relationships. The displacement of the Indo-Europeans by the Turks in Central Asia (from western China to present-day Uzbekistan) also makes for facsinating reading. There is also detailed discussions about Genghis Khan and the Mongols -- frankly much better than most other books I've read that deal with only that topic.
On the negative side, the book focuses too much on Genghis Khan and generally has a pro-Mongol bias. Some of the maps are also quite unhelpful and do not correspond to the text too well.
Nonetheless, this old book is still the best around after all these years.