Yes, yes more history reading. China Marches West--The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia, by Peter C Purdue, is an exhaustive look at how the nascent Manchu Empire expanded its dominion.

This book was one that bogged me down. Not because it is dull but because it is another REAL history book and it takes time and thought to read it. It is also an important book to understand where we are now in the world, despite the fact it takes place several hundred years ago. This is history for people who want to understand now.

We tend to think of the nation states as they exist now as monolithic things that existed, as is, since time immemorial, even when boundaries change within our own lifetimes. This book tells the story of Chinese, or more accurate, Manchu Quin Empire's, expansion at the expense of the Mongol people. The Chinese are not alone in this conquest/absorption. As they moved west, the Russian Empire was moving east. Caught in between were the Mongol people--specifically the Zunghar Mongols.

At the time these three groups played a game of cat and mouse that included diplomacy, duplicity and warfare.

Perdue meticulously catalogs the motivations of the players making clear that this wasn't "straight line" history. Nothing that happened was inevitable nor were the results all intended by the participants (certainly not the Mongols). Unlike the History of the Arab Peoples this book also gives glimpses of personalities and focuses on the motivation of the "great men" involved-- in some cases we know more about intentions because the men themselves wrote them down.

He also parses official histories an calls out the mistakes, omissions and lies. The end result of China's movement West was the creation of a multi-ethnic nation state that, more or less, exists today.

The book is exhaustive (and a little exhausting) but it is worth the time and effort. Keep in mind the effort isn't because it is written in a dry manner; it is actually quite engaging. It simply includes a vast amount of information.

I'd been meaning to read A History of the Arab Peoples by Albert Hourani, since I read a review of it something like 30 years ago. It is what the title implies but it is a book of its times in many ways.

For one it eschews the "great man (or woman)" sort of history and focuses instead on culture.  In the 1990s history had turned away from "great person" biographies and the focus on war and grand events. It was about the people and culture. This was, of course, an important correction. In some cases it maybe goes too far in this direction of ignoring the kings and queens and such altogether. Some may have that impression about Hourani's book but I do not think that would be accurate. So often Westerner's read about Arabs ONLY in the context of rulers and also as bit players in some Western story. This book will have none of that and it is incredibly detailed and focused.

Within the cultural focus mentioned there is a hyper-focus on the role of Islam.  Indeed the book basically starts with the origins of Islam. History before Islam is treated as prologue and an extremely brief prologue. The one great man there is detail on is the Prophet Mohammad (and if you are going to pick a single towering figure you cannot find one larger). Yet even the great Prophet isn''t really the focus; the beliefs he espoused.

The history of Islam is an enormous part of the history of the Arab people. Especially in the early third of this book the religion is the backbone of what is laid out for the reader. If you come to this book looking for detailed discussions of Arab expansion East or West or the battles fought and the men who led? You are going to be disappointed. In part this may be because Hourani knew that if you start down that road you, out of necessity, start talking about Byzantium, the Sasanians and others. This is a book about the Arab peoples and he shows great discipline in keeping it just that.

He does a great job putting you into the ancient world at various points in time and locations. When the book arrives in modern times it outlines policies again, not getting tied up in personalities. If you start discussing independence and the receding power of Britain and France in too much detail the focus might be lost. It doesn't happen. The book never bogs down in personalities.

This isn't to say that there is anything wrong with biography or history books about wars and significant political events. This just ISN'T any of those and it is valuable because of that. This is also not a "popular" history even though I believe this book was a best seller. This is history history so be prepared to wade through detail and repetition. It is meticulously sourced and indexed. If you cannot bring yourself to read it in one fell swoop it is definitely something you can return to.

Doubtless, in the over 30 years since this book was published there have been changes, revisions, in the history. I don't know enough to tell you what these are but it is true of most books of history. Nonetheless, this is a fantastic place to start in learning about the Arab Peoples.