A Brief History of Khubilai Khan: Lord of Xanadu, Founder of the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor of China (Brief Histories) By Jonathan Clements

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His grandfather was the bloodthirsty Mongol leader Genghis Khan, his mother a Christian princess. Groomed from childhood for a position of authority, Khubilai snatched the position of Great Khan, becoming the overlord of a Mongol federation that stretched from the Balkans to the Korean coast. His armies conquered the Asian kingdom of Dali and brought down the last defenders of imperial China.

Khubilai Khan presided over a glorious Asian renaissance, attracting emissaries from all across the continent, and opening his civil service to men with coloured eyes administrators from the far west. His reign began the glorious Yuan dynasty that ruled over China for only ninety years, but had a profound impact on Asian history, from international trade to cultural revolution.

Jonathan Clementss insightful biography into the life and times of one of Chinas greatest leaders is a fascinating introduction to an important era, uncovering the man behind Marco Polos mythic portrait. A Brief History of Khubilai Khan: Lord of Xanadu, Founder of the Yuan Dynasty, Emperor of China (Brief Histories)

I was also impressed with the amount of information on the subject of the first member of the Yuan dynasty.

Khubilai was a grandson of Genghis Khan, but the first Emperor of the Chinese Empire for the Yuan Dynasty. This short book describes in detail how he came to his position as a Great Khan and united the Chinese Empire. The book describes in detail his positives as a unifier of the Chinese people, and the problems he created. He was tolerant of religions and was slightly pulled toward the Buddhist religion. It describes his reactions against both Muslim and Taoist opposition. Khubilai was a unifier and a great ruler, but there were downsides to his rule. Inflation and the government currency suffered from his inability to stabilize the finances of the empire.

I thought this was a good book about a misunderstood ruler of the Chinese Empire. English Awesome read English I bought this bk. for my Grandson, Zach, who did a report in school on Khans, he really liked it, i have not read it, yet.He loves history so i am going to get him another one. Eve English I bought this book on sale for a song and did not have great expectations, but I have been completely converted to anything written by this author. He is a non academic historian with a wonder knack for story telling, critical analysis and an understanding of sources. In short he is a most perfect historian. The account is well balanced against the background of Chinese, Japanese, Mongel and European sources of understanding for the great Khubilai. At 230 pages it is I guess short in the sense that most books these days are about double that, but he covers a lot of ground, not just in conquest and military matters, but also administration and culture, and the playing off of the various religions of the time.

It was difficult to put this volume down and it has served as a great introduction for the founding of the Yuan Dynasty and further readings one may undertake. In addition I have bought his most recent book on the Samurai he may not be the expert that Stephen Turnbull is, but he is one helluva story teller. First rate! English Jonathan Clements has written plenty of books his style being very much aimed at a general readership as opposed to writing for other scholars. This means his books are accessible and don't require you to have a degree in minutiae in order to get a lot from his works.

This book on Khubilai Khan is indeed accessible. The writing style carries authority without being musty. The book looks at Khubilai and his times and clearly defines many of the social and political s of the era. We get a family history which shows where the Mongols had come from and where they went under Khubilai. There is a lot of context given for such a short work and there is gravitas than perhaps you would expect. The author does not fall into the trap of writing an hagiography and willing discusses some of the failings of the Khan. His successes and frustrations, the economic blunders, the social experiments, the failed invasions of Japan, Java, Burma and modern day Vietnam all are here.

What this book achieves is to provide a worthy historical account in a way that makes you want to read about not necessarily Khubilai himself but other leaders and empires of that time. The book does lack illustrations though does have a couple of maps which help out. The bibliography is extensive for those who want to delve deeply.

A good read for anyone with an interest or gift for someone you know who is. English

Some how this books changes facts and history, something odd with it, looks like some one in CCP wants to change history, surely soon we shall see books talking about mao setun been an angel, not the devil in the sky he was, oh well, china had its moment, i am sure rest of the 20s they will go back to where they were before 1992; English This is an excellent introduction to Khubilai Khan. The book is very well written and the story of Khubilai Khan is captivating. The author of this book has done what many historians fail to dowrite about history in an interesting way. If you want a good introduction to Khubilai Khan or just an interesting history read, then this is a book for you. English This is an absolutely invaluable book for any non specialist wanting a general account of the reign and career of this charismatic thirteenth century ruler. It is written in an interesting and lively way, with amusing or otherwise engaging anecdotes, extracts from contemporary accounts such as that of Marco Polo, and details (but not in too great length) of the Khan's family, ministers, advisers, and so on. My one regret was that there were no photos. English A seminal work on the life of Kubilai and Mongol dynasty English This is a superb book, a crash course on Kublai Khan, someone that I previously knew nothing about. That is the great thing about these 'A Brief History of' books, they manage to give a good grounding in a range of subjects without taking too much effort or time. The author covers many of the key events in Kublai's reign (although frankly I wouldn't notice any omissions) from the subjugation of Southern China to the Mongol attempts to take the likes of Vietnam, Burma, and Japan! Did they defeat the Japanese? Well I'll leave that to you to find out. English