Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times [Paperback]

Morris Rossabi (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520067401 | ISBN-13: 978-0520067400 | Publication Date: August 21, 1989

Living from 1215 to 1294 Khubilai Khan is one of history's most renowned figures. Here for the first time is an English-language biography of the man. Morris Rossabi draws on sources from a variety of East Asian, Middle Eastern, and European languages as he focuses on the life and times of the great Mongol monarch.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this highly readable biography Rossabi confines himself to historical sources to provide a fascinating life of this great ruler. Although Khubilai acquired the title of Great Khan, the Mongol empire of the 1250s already had broken into four segments, with Khubilai ruling North China. His greatest success came when he was over 60 with the conquest of the southern Sung dynasty. In the last years of his life, however, he suffered from personal tragedies, obesity, alcoholism, and military reverses. Still, Khubilai ruled "the largest and most populous empire in the history of the world until that time." Recommended for most libraries. History Book Club main selection. David D. Buck, Univ. of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Khubilai Khan is much more than a biography. It is a comprehensive treatment of the cultural and political dimensions of the 13th century in both China and Central Asia." -- Pamela Kyle Crossley, The New Republic

"Morris Rossabi has written this impressive biography for scholarly use, but he does not neglect the casual reader. He brings Khubilai and his era to life with myriad details, providing an ironic portrait of an invader conquered by his own conquest." -- Amanda Heller, The Boston Globe

"[Khubilai Khan] will probably stand for many years as the best account of Khubilai available. . . . Rossabi, his scholarship a patient accretion of details, provides us with a fascinating portrait of a restless nomad chieftain seen mainly through the eyes of the sedentary populations over which he ruled." -- T.H. Barrett, London Review of Books

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Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (August 21, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520067401
• ISBN-13: 978-0520067400
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,193,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A book on a Mongol conqueror should have more zap, November 5, 1999

By 

Robert S. Newman "Bob Newman" (Marblehead, Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times (Paperback)

OK, so maybe Morris Rossabi was right not to speak of this great Khan as "a most excellent barbarian" as if he emerged from some "sandal and Vandal" Hollywood epic. But, this historical figure lived amidst some of the most colorful, interesting times (not to mention extremely bloody ones). A little more pizzazz could have livened up the biography of an undoubtedly important character in world history. Rossabi's book is competent, it is scholarly, it is well-organized, it is impressively wide-reaching in its use of English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese sources (and the author seems to have some knowledge of Mongol and Tibetan too). Nobody could fault such a book for incompleteness. Certainly I am not qualified to spot any inaccuracies. We learn the antecedents of Khubilai Khan, how he emerged from the welter of contestants for the top job, how he organized the bureaucracy, picked his advisors, dealt with the various religions and their factions, how he conquered the Southern Sung (rulers of 50 million Chinese), how he became a patron of the arts, and how he tried and failed to conquer Burma, Vietnam, and Japan. On finishing the book, I felt sure that I had read most of the available information on Khubilai Khan. But....I would have liked some insights, which I believe Dr. Rossabi could have provided. Where can we place Khubilai Khan in the long history of struggle between nomad and sedentary farmer in North Asia ? How did he stack up against previous and later rulers ? What were the results of the various policies he followed and were they very different from what the Chinese had done ? And ? Well, I might not be able to come up with many more possible themes like this, but I would have enjoyed some questions and answers, to be shown a broader picture.

Still, if you need a book on the life of Khubilai Khan which is clearly written and avoids jargon---though the author does tend to insert a few too many Mongol and Chinese terms which are useless to lay readers---you could do worse than obtain this volume, probably the premier work on the subject in English.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Khubilai the Great., November 10, 2006

By 

Kevin M Quigg (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times (Paperback)

Rossabi dispels the notions that the Mongol horsemen that conquered half the world were barbarians. He details Khubilai's life and how as a grandson of the great Genghis, he expected to someday be one of the ruling princes of the Mongol Empire. Khubilai's rule was not anticipated. He had to battle his brother for the throne. However, when he became a great Khan, he conquered most of China, and extended his influence over a large chunk of Asia. He was a consensus ruler, taking people from all ethnicities. He took the best ideas from all and used them in governing his empire. Other than some military setbacks in Japan and Java, his influence was great.

This is dry reading at times. The author is an academic, and this is a serious academic work. The author wrote an book detailing all the knowledge we have of Khubilai. However, this book is not for everyone.
A detailed read.

11 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About the Mongols, August 22, 2000

By 

Shogun Len "tokieyasu" (Arizona) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times (Paperback)

If you have ever been interested in learning about the amazing Khubilia Khan or the Mongols this is the book to read.

Morris Rossabi knows his stuff and it that is clearly evident in this book.

Rossabi does a great job explaining the man Marco Polo met in China. Rossabi does a great job explaining the Mongols, their Empire, and their leader Khubilia Khan.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about one of the largest empires to ever exist and their amazing leader.

It is great to read a book written by someone who knows his stuff. Rossabi knows his stuff!