Marie Favereau

A sweeping, epic history of the Ulus Jochi, or Golden Horde: one of the successor khanates which emerged out of the Mongol Empire in the mid-thirteenth century and survived into the mid-sixteenth century. In The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World, Marie Favereau marshals an impressive array of sources to make the case that the achievements of the Golden Horde have often been misunderstood or discounted by later historians, trained as they were to think of sedentary agriculture and urbanism as both economically and morally superior to nomadic empires. The various Mongol states were thus, to this world view, simply temporary waves of violent invasion breaking west across the steppes, the Mongols "mere pirates of the land." Favereau argues instead both for the Jochids as skilled and flexible administrators of empire, and for the Horde as exercising a profound legacy across a great swathe of Eurasia.

I found the earlier chapters of the book, where Favereau concentrates more on the big-picture socio-cultural history, to be more engaging than the latter part, where it transitions into a more conventional political/military account. Still, a fascinating read and one with much to offer to those interested in medieval history or the history of empire.… (meer)