Supplementary Bibliography to Lecture Topics

This bibliography is organized in order of topics covered in class lectures, although the topical headings may not always correspond exactly to the lecture titles, which may vary from year to year. The selection here includes some of the sources used in the preparation of lecture material and suggestions for additional reading which may be particularly informative and accessible to non-specialist readers. Organization under each heading generally follows the order in which topics were covered and thus is not alphabetic by author. In some cases, the most general treatment is first, followed by more specialized ones. Generally the assigned readings for the given topics are not included here; those may be found in the week-by-week schedule for the course.

Geography, Transportation, and Patterns of Human Interaction.

  • Robert N. Taaffe, "The geographic setting," in Denis Sinor, ed., The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Cambridge, etc., 1990), pp. 19-40.
  • Denis Sinor, "Horse and Pasture in Inner Asian History," Oriens Extremus, 19/1-2 (1972), pp. 171-183. Interesting observations about ecological limitations and the use of the horse.
  • Richard Bulliet, The Camel and the Wheel (Cambridge, Mass., 1975). The only substantial treatment in English, with interesting arguments about the economies of camel transportation.
  • Edward H. Schafer, "The Camel in China down to the Mongol Dynasty," Sinologica, 2 (1950), pp. 165-194, 263-290. As with his other work, Schafer draws upon a broad range of sources, including literary evocations of the camel.
  • Jean-Paul Roux, "Le chameau en Asie Centrale: Son nom--son elevage--sa place dans la mythologie," Central Asiatic Journal, V (1959/60), pp. 35-76.
  • David Christian, A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, Vol. I. Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire (Oxford: Blackwell, 1998). An ambitious "world history" approach to Eurasia, which is especially valuable for synthesizing the "prehistory" with reference to geography and ecology and broad patterns of human migration and interaction.
  • Elizabeth Wayland Barber, The Mummies of Ürümchi (NY/London: Norton, 1999). Rambling but well-illustrated treatment of the mummies unearthed in the Tarim Basin as evidence for pre-historic East-West interaction. Emphasis on Tocharians is debatable, but author brings to the subject expertise on weaving, which is important for the interpretation of the archaeological evidence.

    Han Relations with the Peoples of Inner Asia.

  • Thomas Barfield, The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221 BC to AD 1757 (Cambridge and Oxford: Blackwell, 1989; pb. ed. 1992), esp. chs. 1-3. The book is a forceful argument about the mutual interrelations of nomads and sedentary peoples and their importance for state formation and stability.
  • Ying-shih Yü, "The Hsiung-nu," ch. 5 in Denis Sinor, ed., The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Cambridge, etc.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990). Compact overview, but as with many other chapters in volume, suffers from somewhat dry political history emphasis.
  • Ying-shih Yü, Trade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-Barbarian Economic Relations (Berkeley and L.A.: UCalif. Pr., 1967).
  • Sechin Jagchid and Van Jay Symons, Peace, War, and Trade along the Great Wall: Nomadic-Chinese Interaction through Two Millenia (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana U Pr., 1989). Particular emphasis on trade relations.
  • M. Aurel Stein, Ruins of Desert Cathay: Personal Narrative of Explorations in Central Asia and Western Most China, 2 v. (London: Macmillan, 1912; various reprints), esp. chs. L, LIV-LXIII, LXXI. Stein was the most important archaeologist;explorer of the Silk Road in the early 20th century; the material here is on the Han defensive works in Inner Asia.

    The Bactrian Legacy and the Kushans.

  • Peter Green, Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B. C. A Historical Biography (Berkeley, etc.: Univ. of Calif. Pr., 1991).
  • Janos Harmata et al., eds., History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. II: The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations: 700 B.C. to A.D. 250 (Paris: UNESCO, 1996). This series is the most comprehensive treatment of Inner Asian history and culture in English and is particularly strong in its use of the archaeological evidence. Chapters vary in accessibility for the general reader (some are rather dry and dense, but many quite readable).
  • Elizabeth Errington et al., eds., The Crossroads of Asia: Transformation in Image and Symbol in the Art of Ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan (Cambridge: The Ancient India and Iran Trust, 1992). Although many "Silk Road" art exhibit books include good Kushan material, this volume is particularly valuable in its coverage and commentary.
  • Xinru Liu, Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Religious Exchanges AD 1-600 (Delhi etc.: Oxford, 1994). Important if somewhat strained argument about the inseparable relationship between trade in precious objects and the spread of Buddhism. Not always easy reading because of the abundant citation of archaeological data.

    Buddhism in China.

  • Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism (Cambr. UP PB, 1990).
  • Kenneth Ch-en, Buddhism in China. A Historical Survey (Princeton UP, 1964). This remains the standard treatment in some depth.
  • Edward Conze, tr. and ed., Buddhist Scriptures (Penguin PB, 1959). Probably still the best one-volume selection of Buddhist texts in English.
  • Burton Watson, tr. and intr. The Lotus Sutra (Col. UP PB, 1993). Arguably the most important of the Mahayana scriptures for China. Watson has a reputation as one of the most readable translators of Chinese literature.
  • Burton Watson, tr. and intr. The Vimalakirti Sutra (Col. UP, 1997). The "sermon" about the Bodhisattva disguised as a rich layman, who carried out good works and was a repository of wisdom on the doctrine of "non-dualism."
  • E. B. Cowell et al., eds. Buddhist Mahayana Texts (NY: Dover, 1969). Reprint of standard collection in The Sacred Books of the East, ed. by F. Max Müller, vol. xlix.
  • Paul Williams, Mahayana Buddhism. The Doctrinal Foundations (Routledge PB, 1989).
  • Eva Wong, The Shambhala Guide to Taoism: A complete introduction to the history, philosophy, and practice of an ancient Chinese spiritual tradition (Shambhala, 1997), esp. Pt. I.

    Dunhuang and Its Art.

  • Jacques Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society: An Economic History from the Fifth to the Tenth Centuries (Columbia UP PB, 1995). Substantial use of documents from Dunhuang as concrete evidence.
  • Lionel Giles, "A History of the Tunhuang Region from the Eighth to the Eleventh Century A. D.," Appendix B to his "A Topographical Fragment from Tunhuang," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (Univ. of London), VII (1933-35), esp. 556-572.
  • Edith Wiercimok, "The Donor Figure in the Buddhist Painting of Dunhuang," Silk Road Art and Achaeology, I (1990), 203-226.
  • Ning Qiang, "The Meaning of Re/constructions: The Story of a Family Cave-Temple," unpubl. paper on history of Mogao Cave 220, the Zhai family cave.

    Material Evidence of China's Relations with the West.

  • Edward H. Schafer, The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics (UCalif. Pr. PB, 1985). More of an encyclopedia than a narrative to be read through consecutively. Fascinating evidence (including literary) regarding the importance and uses of exotic products in China.
  • Jane Gaston Mahler, The Westerners among the Figurines of the T'ang Dynasty of China (Serie Orientale Roma, XX) (Rome, 1959). Of particular interest is her discussion of clothing styles.
  • James T. C. Liu, "Polo and Cultural Change from T'ang to Sung China," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 45/1 (1985), pp. 203-224.
  • Richard Ettinghausen, "Chinese Representations of Central Asian Turks," in his Islamic Art and Archaeology. Collected Papers (Berlin), pp. 1200-1214.
  • Ellen Johnston Laing, "Recent Finds of Western-Related Glassware, Textiles, and Metalwork in Central Asia and China," Bulletin of the Asia Institute, N.S., 9 (1995), 1-18.
  • Bulletin of the Asia Institute, N.S., 5 (1991), includes special section devoted to "China and the West," where see esp.:
    1. Ellen Johnston Laing, "A Report on Western Asian Glassware in the Far East," pp. 109-121;
    2. Jessica Rawson, "Central Asian Silver and Its Influence on Chinese Ceramics," pp. 139-151. How particular styles and techniques of foreign metalwork were translated into ceramic design in China;
    3. Victor Cunrui Xiong and Ellen Johnston Laing, "Foreign Jewelry in Ancient China," pp. 163-173. Of particular interest is the discussion of the jewelry in the early seventh century tomb of Sui princess Li Jingxun.

    Rome and Its Relations with the East.

  • Janos Harmatta et al., eds., History of Civilizations of Central Asia, II. The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations: 700 B. C. to A.D. 250 (Paris: UNESCO, 1994), esp. chs. 5, 20, on Parthia and rise of Sasanians.
  • Fergus Millar, ed., The Roman Empire and Its Neighbors (NY and London, 1967), esp. ch. 14, on relations with Parthians and Sasanians.
  • G. W. Bowersock, Roman Arabia (Cambr. and London, 1994 PB repr. of 1983 ed.). Includes a lot of information on the Nabataeans.
  • Lionel Casson, ed., tr. and introd., The Periplus maris Erythraei Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1989). The authoritative translation and commentary of an important primary source on trade between the Red Sea and India in the 1st century C. E.
  • M. P. Charlesworth, Trade Routes and Commerce of the Roman Empire (Chicago, repr. of 1926 2nd ed.), esp. chs. 3-6.
  • Martin P. Charlesworth, "Roman Trade with India: A Resurvey," Studies in Roman Economic and Social History in Honor of Allan Chester Johnson, ed. P. R. Coleman-Norton (Princeton, 1951), pp. 131-143.
  • E. H. Warmington, The Commerce between the Roman Empire and India (Cambridge, 1928). Still considered to be the classic treatment of the subject.
  • Himanshu P. Ray, The Winds of Change: Buddhism and the Maritime Links of Early South Asia. (Delhi: Oxford UP, 1994), esp. Ch. 3. The book uses extensively recent archaeological findings; overall provides an excellent introduction to historic patterns of early Indian maritime trade.
  • J. Innes Miller, The Spice Trade of the Roman Empire (Oxford, 1969). Useful especially for a long descriptive section on each of the spices and what is known about their sources.
  • C. G. Seligman, "The Roman Orient and the Far East," Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution...for the Year Ended June 30, 1938 (Washington, D. C., 1939), pp. 547-568.
  • F. Hirth, China and the Roman Orient: Researches into Their Ancient and Mediaeval Relations as Represented in Old Chinese Records (Leipzig, etc., 1885; repr. 1939). Now rather dated translation and commentary on the Chinese sources about the West.

    The rise of Islam and the Muslim Conquest of Central Asia.

  • Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples (Harvard UP, 1991), esp. Part I, for good overview of rise of Islam.
  • David Waines, An Introduction to Islam (Cambridge UP PB, 1995). Some depth on Muslim beliefs, with careful reference to and quotation of relevant suras of the Quran. Includes very useful bibliographic essay on literature about origins of Islam.
  • Patricia Crone, Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam (Princeton UP, 1987). Controversial questioning of degree to which Muslim tradition can be trusted regarding the centrality of Mecca as a commercial center at time of Muhammad.
  • B. A. Litvinsky et al., eds., History of the Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. III. The Crossroads of Civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750 (UNESCO Publishing, 1996), covers Sasanians, Türks, Khwarezm, Soghdia, Muslim conquest of Central Asia.
  • Denis Sinor, ed., The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Cambr. UP, 1990), Ch. 11, by Sinor, is good overview of history of Türk Empire.
  • Guitty Azarpay, Sogdian Painting: The Pictorial Epic in Oriental Art (UCalif. Pr., 1981). A well-illustrated treatment, especially for the murals of Afrasiab (Samarkand) and Penjikent.
  • Christopher I. Beckwith, "The Plan of the City of Peace: Central Asian Iranian Factors in Early 'Abbasid Design," Acta orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hung., XXXVIII/1-2 (1984), 143-164. Interesting argument about NE Iranian influences on the design of the famous circular city of Abbasid Baghdad.

    Inner Asia Before Chingis Khan, I: The Uighurs.

  • Christopher L. Beckwith, The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia (Princeton UP, 1987). For those with a strong stomach for a lot of indigestible names. Perserverance in the book is rewarding though, since it is the best detailed political history of the early Tibetan Empire and its relations with the major players in Inner Asia from the 7th to early 9th centuries. Includes a stimulating general final chapter on the importance of it all.
  • Denis Sinor, ed., The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (Cambr. UP, 1990), Ch. 12 on the Uighurs (by Colin Mackerras). Excellent introduction and overview by the leading expert.
  • Colin Mackerras, ed. and trans., The Uighur Empire According to the T'ang Dynastic Histories. A Study in Sino-Uighur Relations 744-840 (Univ. of S. Carolina Pr., 1972). Important for translations of the key narrative sources about the Uighurs.
  • B. A. Litvinsky et al., eds., History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. III (UNESCO, 1996), esp. Chs. 11 (City-States of Tarim Basin), 12 (Kocho), 17, pt. 2 (Religions: Manichaeism), 18, pt. 1 (first sec. on Christianity). The most recent treatment, with illustrations from archaeological material.

    Inner Asia Before Chingis Khan, II: The Tanguts.

  • Mikhail Piotrovsky, ed., Lost Empire of the Silk Road: Buddhist Art from Khara Khoto (X-XIIIth Century) (Milan: Electa, 1993). Best introduction to Tanguts (Xi Xia) and their culture, especially the rich artistic legacy unearthed at Kara Khoto.
  • Adam T. Kessler, Empires Beyond the Great Wall: The Heritage of Genghis Khan (LA: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 1993), esp. chs. 4 (on Liao), 5 (on Tanguts and others), and 6 (on Mongols). Emphasis of the artifacts in this exhibit is on cultural contacts between China and the steppe peoples to the north. Lovely photos and good explanatory text.
  • Ruth W. Dunnell, The Great State of White and High: Buddhism and State Formation in Eleventh-Century Xia (Honolulu: Univ. of Hawai'i Press, 1996). An interesting effort to explore state formation and ideology, shoehorned into a somewhat irrelevant framework of world systems theory.

    The Mongols.

  • Ata-Malik Juvaini, Genghis Khan: The History of the World Conqueror, tr. J. A. Boyle, repr.ed. (Seattle, 1997). Vivid 13th-century account of rise of Mongols and their conquest of Central Asia and the Middle East.
  • Francis Balducci Pegolotti, "Notices of the Land Route to Cathay and of Asiatic Trade in the First Half of the Fourteenth Century," in Henry Yule and Henri Cordier, eds., Cathay and the Way Thither: Being a Collection of Medieval Notices of China, vol. III (London, 1916), pp. 137-173. A Florentine merchant's trade handbook.
  • Christopher Dawson, ed., The Mongol Mission (various editions, some with slightly diff. title), includes accounts by Franciscans John of Plano Carpini and William of Rubruck, who visited Mongols in 13th century.
  • Thomas J. Barfield, The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China 221 BC to AD 1757 (Cambridge, Ma., and Oxford, 1992), esp. Ch. 5 (on pre-Mongol states) and Ch. 6 (on Mongols).
  • Morris Rossabi, Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times (Berkeley and LA, 1988).
  • P. Jackson, "The Dissolution of the Mongol Empire," Central Asiatic Journal, 22 (1978), 186-244. Good analysis political tensions emerging even as the Empire was still growing.
  • Charles J. Halperin, Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russia (Bloomington, Ind., 1987). Sensible critique of literature that stresses the negative, although his "ideology of silence" argument is questionable.
  • Thomas T. Allsen, Commodity and exchange in the Mongol empire: A cultural history of Islamic textiles (Cambridge, 1997). Fascinating evidence on importance of particular textiles stimulating economic exchange.
  • Yolanda Crowe, "Late Thirteenth-Century Persian Tilework and Chinese Textiles," Bulletin of the Asia Institute, N. S., 5 (1991), 153-161. Influence of Chinese motifs in designs on tiles.
  • Robert Sabatino Lopez, "China Silk in Europe in the Yuan Period," Journal of the American Oriental Society, 72/2 (1952), 72-76. Evidence on the silk trade and manufacture from the Italian archives.
  • Devin DeWeese, Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tükles and Conversion to Islam in Historical and Epic Tradition (University Park, Pa., 1994). Fascinating study of nomads' conversion to Islam, interpreted through the lens of what we can establish (among other things, by ethnographic study) about traditional beliefs and society.
  • History of civilizations of Central Asia. IV. The age of achievement: A.D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century. Part One. The historical, social and economic setting; Part Two. The Achievements. Ed. M. S. Asimov and C. E. Bosworth (UNESCO Publishing, 1998, 2000).

    Tamerlane, Timurid Samarkand, and Ming China.

  • Beatrice Forbes Manz, The Rise and Rule of Tamerlane (Cambridge UP PB, 1991). Political History.
  • Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom, The Art and Architecture of Islam 1250-1800 (Pelican History of Art) (Yale UP, 1994), esp. chs. 4, 5, 14, which include a nicely illustrated summary of important Timurid architecture. This volume received glowing reviews when it appeared.
  • Aydin Sayili, The Observatory in Islam and Its Place in the General History of the Observatory (Ankara, 1960), esp. chs. VI (on the Maragha observatory) and VIII (pp. 260-289) (on Ulugh Beg's observatory).
  • Morris Rossabi, "Two Ming Envoys to Inner Asia," T'oung Pao, LXII/1-3 (1976), 1-34. The second one is Ch'en Ch'eng.
  • Idem, "Cheng Ho and Timur: An Relation?," Oriens Extremus, 20/2 (1973), 129-36.
  • Idem, "A Translation of Ch'en Ch'eng's Hsi-Yü Fan-Kuo Chih," Ming Studies, 17 (1983), 49-59.
  • Felicia J. Hecker, "A Fifteenth-Century Chinese Diplomat in Herat," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, ser. 3, 3/1 (1993), 86-98. Analysis of Ch'en Ch'eng's largely accurate observations, including his transcription of Persian.
  • Louise Levathes, When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne 1405-1433 (New York/Oxford, 1996). Appealingly written and broader than the title suggests.
  • Ma Huan, Ying-yai sheng-lan: "The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores" (1433), tr. J. V. G. Mills (Cambridge, 1970). The descriptive account by the "chronicler" of Zheng He's treasure fleets.
  • Toh Sugimura, The Encounter of Persia with China: Research into Cultural Contacts Based on Fifteenth Century Persian Pictorial Materials (Osaka, 1986). Islamic world paintings and their Chinese sources. Of particular interest, the way Buddhist religious painting "secularized" in a Muslim context.
  • Yolanda Crowe, "Some Timurid Designs and their Far Eastern Connections," in Lisa Golombek and Maria Subtelny, Timurid Art and Culture: Iran and Central Asia in the Fifteenth Century (Brill, 1992), pp. 168-178. Of particular interest, the relationship between Chinese lacquerware and Timurid incised tiles.
  • Margaret Medley, "Chinese ceramics and Islamic design," in William Watson, ed., The Westward Influence of the Chinese Arts from the 14th to the 18th Century (=Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia No. 3) (London), 1-10. Good overview, with reference to trade.
  • G. A. Bailey, "The Dynamics of Chinoiserie in Timurid and Early Safavid Ceramics," in Golombek and Subtelny, loc. cit., 179-190. Middle eastern interpretations of designs on Chinese porcelain.

    The Eurasian Trade, 16th-18th Centuries.

  • Louise Levathes, When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne 1405-1433 (Simon & Schuster, 1994; also PB ed.). Vividly told account about the monumental fleets of the early Ming.
  • Morris Rossabi, "The 'Decline' of the Central Asian Caravan Trade," Ch. 11 in James D. Tracy, ed., The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World, 1350-1750 (Cambr. UP, 1990), pp. 351-370. Costs of political unrest for the maintaining of the overland trade routes.
  • R. D. McChesney, "'Barrier of Heterodoxy'?: Rethinking the Ties Between Iran and Central Asia in the 17th Century," in Charles Melville, ed., Safavid Persia: The History and Politics of an Islamic Society (I.B. Tauris PB, 1996), pp. 231-267.
  • Niels Steensgaard, The Asian Trade Revolution of the Seventeenth Century: The East India Companies and the Decline of the Caravan Trade (UChicago Pr. PB, 1974). Sophisticated but Euro-centric interpretation.
  • Levon Khachikan, "The Ledger of the Merchant Hovhannes Joughayetsi," Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 4th ser., 8/3 (1966), pp. 153-186. Armenian merchant who was in Persia, India and Tibet in 1680s.
  • John Chardin, Travels in Persia 1673-1677 (NY: Dover PB, 1988). One of best contemporary descriptions, with a lot on economy.
  • Rudolph P. Matthee, The Politics of Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver, 1600-1730 (Cambr. UP, 1999). Sophisticated synthesis of Safavid political economy.
  • Edmund Herzig, "The Iranian raw silk trade and European manufacture in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries," Journal of European Economic History, 19/1 (1990), 73-89. Good overview of importance of Iran's silk production.
  • Edmund M. Herzig, "The Rise of the Julfa Merchants in the Late Sixteenth Century," in Charles Melville, ed., Safavid Persia (I.B.Tauris PB, 1996), pp. 305-322. Armenians in Silk trade.
  • Ina Baghdiantz McCabe, The Shah's Silk for Europe's Silver: the Eurasian Trade of the Julfa Armenians in Safavid Iran and India (1530-1750) (Scholar's Pr., 1999). Strongest (exaggerated?) argument for corporate organization and importance of Armenians.
  • Halil Inalcik, "Bursa and the Commerce of the Levant," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, III/2 (1960), 131-147. Pioneering discussion of role of Ottoman merchants in overland trade.
  • Stephen Frederic Dale, Indian Merchants and Eurasian Trade, 1600-1750 (Cambr. UP, 1994). Revisionist argument about commercial sophistication of Indian merchants, using esp. documents from colony at Astrakhan (mouth of Volga R.).
  • Irfan Habib, "Merchant Communities in Precolonial India," in James D. Tracy, The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World, 1350-1750 (Cambr. UP, 1990), pp. 371-399, but esp. pp. 379 ff. on Banya merchants.
  • Willem Floor, "The Dutch and the Persian Silk Trade," in Melville, ed., loc. cit., pp. 323-368.

    The Last of the Traditional Empires on the Silk Road.

  • Patricia Ebrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambr. UP, 1996), ch. 8 (on Ming).
  • Roger Savory, Iran under the Safavids (Cambr. UP, 1980). A good introductory survey.
  • John F. Richards, The Mughal Empire (=The New Cambridge History of India, I.5) (Cambr. UP PB, 1993). Provides interesting detail on the impressive Mughal administration.
  • Richard C. Foltz, Mughal India and Central Asia (Karachi, etc.: Oxford UP, 1998). A fascinating study of continuing Mughal interaction with the Central Asian homeland of their ancestors.
  • Gavin Hambly, ed., Central Asia (Delacorte, 1969), chs. 12-13 (on the Shaybanids and the decline of the Uzbek khanates).
  • Audrey Burton, The Bukharans: A Dynastic, Diplomatic and Commercial History 1550-1702 (NY: St Martin's, 1997). Massive and un-discriminating re-telling of the Persian narrative histories for the politics of the Bukharan state. For those interested in Inner Asian trade, the second half of book is an invaluable compendium of information about routes, products, etc., and includes a lot on trade with Muscovy. A book to be mined but not savored.
  • James A. Millward, Beyond the Pass: Economy, Ethnicity, and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759-1864 (Stanford UP, 1998). A pioneering study of Qing administration in Xinjiang.
  • George V. Lantzeff and Richard A. Pierce, Eastward to Empire: Exploration and Conquest on the Russian Open Frontier, to 1750, (Montreal/London: McGill/Queen's, 1973). A competent introduction to how Russia became a North Asian empire.