The Khan and the Unicorn: Mongol Empire and Qing Knowledge in the Making of World History

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Matthew W. Mosca

The Khan and the Unicorn

Name: The Khan and the Unicorn
Price: 113.95 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780674303454

Mongol Empire and Qing Knowledge in the Making of World History

Matthew W. Mosca

$113.95

Hardback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

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English

Harvard University, Asia Center
21 April 2026

Historiography; General & world history; Asian history

Series: Harvard East Asian Monographs

The Mongol Empire changed the world, but early chronicles of its conquests, written from regional perspectives and widely dispersed, could not convey its far-reaching significance. The Khan and the Unicorn details how historians from different cultures collectively rediscovered their common past and transformed the scattered records of Chinggis Khan’s conquests into world history. Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, as new empires competed for control of Eurasian lands once ruled by the Mongols, historians encountered a wealth of unfamiliar materials previously unknown to them. Aided by methodological innovations, they created more coherent and multifaceted accounts of Mongol power. Drawing on sources in Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, and European languages, Matthew Mosca tracks this process of rediscovery from the vantage of Beijing. The Qing court led the transformation by assigning multilingual staff to integrate historical information into pioneering studies. Mosca reconstructs the emergence of a knowledge circuit linking Beijing to other scholarly centers, notably Paris, St. Petersburg, and Tokyo. As conflicting appraisals of the Mongol Empire came into contact, debates flared over how to interpret the collision of nomadic and sedentary societies, often cast as a clash between civilization and barbarism. Whether valorized or villainized, Mongol imperial power came to be recognized as a driving force in world history.

By: Matthew W. Mosca
Imprint: Harvard University, Asia Center
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780674303454
ISBN 10: 0674303458
Series: Harvard East Asian Monographs
Pages: 446
Publication Date: 21 April 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Matthew W. Mosca is Associate Professor of History and International Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle.