Empire of the Steppes

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1952 French edition
A01=Rene Grousset
academic standards.
Author_Rene Grousset
Category=NHF
comprehensive index
contact with cultures
decade of preparation
early history
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
felicitous translation
first English-language edition
fluent in French
general reader
general works
grandeur
Grousset's lifetime
Grousset's original
history of Central Asia
indispensable
intellectual grasp
interpretation difficulty
last published
linguistic complexities
majestic sweep
major work
maps
masterpiece
Naomi Walford
obscurity
peoples
published in 1939
Rutgers edition
scholars
specialist
specialized studies
sprawling history
steppe nomads
syntheses
synthesis
The Empire of the Steppes
written histories

Product details

  • ISBN 9780813513041
  • Weight: 853g
  • Dimensions: 140 x 210mm
  • Publication Date: 01 Jan 1970
  • Publisher: Rutgers University Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
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While the early history of the steppe nomads is shrouded in obscurity, this obscurity lifts somewhat after their contact with cultures possessing written histories. But even when information about them becomes relatively more plentiful, linguistic ocmplexities make its interpretation extremely difficult. Thus, while the number of specialized studies devoted to them is impressive, general works embracing the many disciplines involved, or syntheses on a grand scale encompassing the sprawling history of these peoples, are exceedingly scarce. Among these very few, The Empire of the Steppes is outstanding. The aim of this first English-language edition has been to make available a major work useful to the general reader as well as to the specialist, above all an edition which retains the majestic sweep and grandeur, as well as the overriding intellectual grasp, of Grousset's original. 

Hailed as a masterpiece when first published in 1939, this great work of synthesis rapidly became indispensable to scholars fluent in French. Now, after a decade of preparation, this unique history of Central Asia is available in English, in a felicitous translation by Naomi Walford from the 1952 French edition, the last published in Grousset's lifetime. Nineteen maps have been expressly prepared for the Rutgers edition, and a comprehensive 54-page index has been added. In addition, specialists have checked the text, notes, and bibliographical references to bring this vast work into conformity with present-day academic standards. 
RenÉ Grousset was director of the Cernuschi Museum and curator of the MusÉ Guimet in Paris, a member of the French Academy and author of many works on Asia Minor and the Near East.

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