not great. ( )

Rossabi's book has a rather discursive format, with discussion of sources and their possible biases; something I normally like, but Rossabi takes it to an excess. Noting once that the Yuan Shi* has a Confucian bias is good; occasionally reminding the reader of the same doesn't hurt; but bringing it up time and again when we were reminded of it on the previous page gets tedious. Rossabi is also overly concerned with moral judgment, and moreover wishy-washy in applying it, often ending up with a noncommital on the one side, one the other.

These flaws are by no means fatal - while the book could have been better, I don't regret buying it and it certainly left me better informed on the subject. But it's not a book to be read for pure reading pleasure, I doubt it'll appeal to anyone not interested in the old khan and his world for their own sake.

* The official history of the Yuan - sc. Mongol - dynasty.

Rossabi is one of the best modern scholars of Mongolian and Chinese history, and with this book, he provides a comprehensive and well-research biography of Kublai Khan. An enjoyable read, Rossabi draws on numerous Western, Chinese and Central Asian sources to create a very readable biography. ( )