Paul D. Buell

If only this were three times the size. Has he more in store for us? His 'introductory essays' are stuffed with new, sensible, fascinating ideas, facts, conclusions. There's a lot in the A-Z part too of great enlightenment. Can't he do us a general history of the Mongols? I'd trust him to. For instance, he tells you about the urbanization of the steppe, the pressure the steppe was under from farm and city at the time the Mongols struck back: 'what is now Inner Mongolia was more populated circa 1200 than at any later time down to the coming of the railways'. We didn't used to know about that. Sort of thing we need to know.… (mehr)