Morris Rossabi: Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times

Living from 1215 to 1294 Khubilai Khan is one of history's most renowned figures. Here for the first time is an English-language biography of the man. Morris Rossabi draws on sources from a variety of East Asian, Middle Eastern, and European languages as he focuses on the life and times of the great Mongol monarch.

From Library Journal
In this highly readable biography Rossabi confines himself to historical sources to provide a fascinating life of this great ruler. Although Khubilai acquired the title of Great Khan, the Mongol empire of the 1250s already had broken into four segments, with Khubilai ruling North China. His greatest success came when he was over 60 with the conquest of the southern Sung dynasty. In the last years of his life, however, he suffered from personal tragedies, obesity, alcoholism, and military reverses. Still, Khubilai ruled "the largest and most populous empire in the history of the world until that time." Recommended for most libraries. History Book Club main selection. David D. Buck, Univ. of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Review:

"Khubilai Khan is much more than a biography. It is a comprehensive treatment of the cultural and political dimensions of the 13th century in both China and Central Asia." – Pamela Kyle Crossley, The New Republic

"Morris Rossabi has written this impressive biography for scholarly use, but he does not neglect the casual reader. He brings Khubilai and his era to life with myriad details, providing an ironic portrait of an invader conquered by his own conquest." – Amanda Heller, The Boston Globe

"[Khubilai Khan] will probably stand for many years as the best account of Khubilai available. . . . Rossabi, his scholarship a patient accretion of details, provides us with a fascinating portrait of a restless nomad chieftain seen mainly through the eyes of the sedentary populations over which he ruled." – T.H. Barrett, London Review of Books