Hammer and anvil : nomad rulers at the forge of the modern world

"This groundbreaking book examines the role of rulers with nomadic roots in transforming the great societies of Eurasia, especially from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. Distinguished historian Pamela Kyle Crossley, drawing on the long history of nomadic confrontation with Eurasia's densely populated civilizations, argues that the distinctive changes we associate with modernity were founded on vernacular literature and arts, rising literacy, mercantile and financial economies, religious dissidence, independent learning, and self-legitimating rulership. Crossley finds that political traditions of Central Asia insulated rulers from established religious authority and promoted the objectification of cultural identities marked by language and faith, which created a mutual encouragement of cultural and political change. As religious and social hierarchies weakened, political centralization and militarization advanced. But in the spheres of religion and philosophy, iconoclasm enjoyed a new life. The changes cumulatively defined a threshold of the modern world, beyond which lay early nationalism, imperialism, and the novel divisions of Eurasia into "East" and "West." Synthesizing new interpretive approaches and grand themes of world history from 1000 to 1500, Crossley reveals the unique importance of Turkic and Mongol regimes in shaping Eurasia's economic, technological, and political evolution toward our modern world." Distinguished Scholar Pamela Crossley Offers A Rich History Of Eurasia, Pivoting Around The Mongol And Turkic Empires. Synthesizing New Interpretive Approaches And Grand Themes Of World History From 1000 To 1500, The Author Argues That These Regimes Shaped Eurasia's Economic, Technological, And Political Evolution Toward The Modern World.--provided By Publisher. The Lost Continent -- Light-mindedness -- Steppe Power In Medieval Eurasia -- The Turkic Tide -- Belief And Blood -- Sultans And Civilization -- The Age Of Far Conquest -- The Predatory Enterprise -- The Empires Of The Toluids -- Return Of The Turks -- The Threshold -- Dissidence And Doubt -- Intimations Of Nationality -- Ruling In Place. Pamela Kyle Crossley. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. List of Maps ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xv Introduction xvii Part I: The Integrity of Eurasia 1. The Lost Continent 3 2. Light-Mindedness 23 Part II: Steppe Power in Settled Medieval Eurasia 3. The Turkic Tide 43 4. Belief and Blood 65 5. Sultans and Civilization 85 Part III: The Age of Far Conquest 6. The Predatory Enterprise 101 7. The Empires of the Toluids 133 8. Return of the Turks 167 Part IV: The Forge 9. Dissidence and Doubt 203 10. Intimations of Nationality 233 11. Ruling in Place 273 Epilogue 305 Index 319