"China Marches West"

China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia (Peter C. Perdue)

When you read as much history as I do, you tend to start looking for the parts that are glossed over. A visit to your local bookstore will show shelves overflowing with World War 2, but finding a good book about the history of central Asia from the 1600s to the 1800s as the Russians, Chinese, and Mongols struggle for supremacy is a rare find. China Marches West can be a little intimidating, both because of its sheer size and scholarly tone (about as rip-roaring as it gets is on page 342 where we're told "We now turn to the material details of agrarian production"). The book demands your full attention, but in return it's quite interesting. The first half of the book is a narrative history of, well, you can probably tell from the title, with the second half being a more in-depth breakdown covering anything you could possibly want to know about trade and agricultural practices on the frontier. The second half is drier, and I admit I did start skipping a fair amount of pages, but it's weird how fascinating reading about Chinese military granaries can be.

Grade: B+