I. The problem of "Mongol Influence."
A. Images of the negative: a medieval 9/11?
B. Idealization of Kievan Rus'.
C. Looking for a scapegoat?
D. Questions in cultural history: the "Intellectual Silence" of Rus'.
E. The Mongols and Russia's later political history.
F. Methodological questions.
II. Rus' and the pre-Mongol world of the steppe.
III. Mongol culture and history.
A. Culture of the nomads.
B. Their interaction with sedentary centers.
C. Inner Asian trade and Mongol expansion: what we learn from Ata-Malik Juvayni.
D. The rise and fall of the Mongol Empire--some highlights.
IV. The history of the "Golden Horde."