The Real Warrior Women of the Ancient World

Amazons

The first popular history of The Amazons, the real warrior women of Central Asia, based on groundbreaking new research.

Man, the enthusiastic historian of Asia, dissect the Amazons with sharp scalpel. Vivid and personal.

Entertaining, fascinating, intriguing. However they are portrayed, the Amazons appear to have enduring appeal.

The Amazonian ideal of strong, independent women, able to take on men on equal terms, remains as fascinating to us now as it was to the ancient Greeks.

Ferocious female warriors known as Amazons were a recurring staple of Greek myth, but was there any basis of truth? In this fascinating reassessment, Man points to newly discovered archaeological evidence.

John Man is a historian with a special interest in Asia and the nature of leadership. His books, published in over twenty languages, include bestselling biographies of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan and Attila the Hun, as well as histories of the Great Wall of China and the Mongol Empire.

Since the time of the ancient Greeks we have been fascinated by accounts of the Amazons, an elusive tribe of hard-fighting, horse-riding female warriors. Equal to men in battle, legends claimed they cut off their right breasts to improve their archery skills and routinely killed their male children to purify their ranks. 
 
For centuries people believed in their existence and attempted to trace their origins. Artists and poets celebrated their battles and wrote of Amazonia. Spanish explorers, carrying these tales to South America, thought they lived in the forests of the world’s greatest river, and named it after them. 
 
In the absence of evidence, we eventually reasoned away their existence, concluding that these powerful, sexually liberated female soldiers must have been the fantastical invention of Greek myth and storytelling. Until now. 
 
Following decades of new research and a series of groundbreaking archeological discoveries, we now know these powerful warrior queens did indeed exist. In Amazons, John Man travels to the grasslands of Central Asia, from the edge of the ancient Greek world to the borderlands of China, to discover the truth about the warrior women mythologized as Amazons. 
 
In this deeply researched, sweeping historical epic, Man redefines our understanding of the Amazons and their culture, tracking the ancient legend into the modern world and examining its significance today.

The Terracotta Army

The incredible story of China's greatest archaeological treasure - the Terracotta Army - revised and updated for 2018.

Man does for the reader that most difficult of tasks: he conjures up an ancient people in an alien landscape in such a way as to make them live.

John Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia and China. After reading German and French at Oxford he did two postgraduate courses, one in the history of science at Oxford , the other in Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He is the author of GENGHIS KHAN, ATTILA THE HUN and KUBLAI KHAN.

The Terracotta Army is one of the greatest, and most famous, archaeological discoveries of all time. 6,000 life-size figures of warriors and horses were interred in the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of China - each is individually carved, and they are thought to represent real members of the emperor's army. This is the remarkable story of their creation, the man who ordered them made, their rediscovery and their continuing legacy as a pre-eminent symbol of Chinese greatness. 
 
The First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, was king of the Chinese state of Qin and the first man to unite China into a single empire. He built the first Great Wall and brought a single written script to the whole country. He was an inspired and ruthless ruler, but one also beset by paranoia and a desire for immortality. He is still considered the founding father of the modern state of China. On his death in 210 BC he was buried in a giant mausoleum near modern-day Xi'an. Legends of the treasures contained therein still tantalize the imagination today. 
 
In 1974 local farmers digging a well for water broke through into the burial mound and found the first of the Terracotta warriors. Further excavations have revealed the full splendour of the buried army. But the majority of the mausoleum is yet to be opened, including the burial chamber itself - myth tells us that amongst the treasures yet to be uncovered is a vast map of the First Emperor's kingdom with rivers marked with channels of flowing mercury. The story of the First Emperor and the Terracotta Army is a fascinating one, not least for the discoveries yet to be made.

The Life, the Legend and the Islamic Empire

Saladin

One could not wish for a better storyteller or analyst than John Man.

His ability to put us in the picture, to feel, smell and almost touch the surroundings he describes, is matched by his ability to tell a good story.

John Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia. After reading German and French at Oxford he did two postgraduate courses, one in the history of science at Oxford, the other in Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. 
 
John has written acclaimed and highly successful biographies of Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun and Kublai Khan as well as Alpha Beta, on the history of the alphabet, and The Gutenberg Revolution, on the invention of printing.

Saladin remains one of the most iconic figures of his age. As the man who united the Arabs and saved Islam from Christian crusaders in the 12th century, he is the Islamic world’s preeminent hero. Ruthless in defence of his faith, brilliant in leadership, he also possessed qualities that won admiration from his Christian foes. He knew the limits of violence, showing such tolerance and generosity that many Europeans, appalled at the brutality of their own people, saw him as the exemplar of their own knightly ideals. 
 
 But Saladin is far more than a historical hero. Builder, literary patron and theologian, he is a man for all times, and a symbol of hope for an Arab world once again divided. Centuries after his death, in cities from Damascus to Cairo and beyond, to the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf, Saladin continues to be an immensely potent symbol of religious and military resistance to the West. He is central to Arab memories, sensibilities and the ideal of a unified Islamic state. 
 
 In this authoritative biography, historian John Man brings Saladin and his world to life in vivid detail. Charting his rise to power, his struggle to unify the warring factions of his faith, and his battles to retake Jerusalem and expel Christian influence from Arab lands, Saladin explores the life and the enduring legacy of this champion of Islam, and examines his significance for the world today.

Genghis Khan, his heirs and the founding of modern China

The Mongol Empire

The untold story of the world’s greatest empire and the creation of modern China

Wonderful... what sets it apart is the way the tale is told. Quirky digressions and fascinating anecdotes pepper a narrative of wonderful dramatic energy.

Excellent and profoundly committed ... Man provides a vivid, lucid and economical picture. A worthy addition to the burgeoning popular literature on the centaurs of the steppes.

[Man] does a splendid job of conveying the sheer opulence and grandeur... [and tells] a rollicking good story, his historical narrative interspersed with high-spirited travel-writerly digressions. Lively and engaging.

Man, who has travelled widely in the region, focuses on the distinctive features of the empire which these unscrupulous conquerors founded, and the legacy that they left behind.

John Man’s history shows that, while the Mongol hordes were  bloodthirsty, Genghis also instituted an enlightened form of government  based on religious toleration. He also shows how Genghis’s  grandson, Kublai, succeeded in unifying China, laying the groundwork for  the modern superpower. Man’s account is fast paced.

John Man is a historian with a special interest in Mongolia. He has travelled widely across the lands that formed the Mongol Empire, becoming one of the few Western writers to explore the hidden valley where Genghis may have died, climb the sacred mountain on which he is supposedly buried and explore the ruins of Xanadu, the first capital of Genghis’s grandson, Kublai Khan. His books, published in over twenty languages, include the bestselling Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection and Kublai Khan.

Genghis Khan is one of history's immortals: a leader of genius, driven by an inspiring vision for peaceful world rule. Believing he was divinely protected, Genghis united warring clans to create a nation and then an empire that ran across much of Asia. 
 
Under his grandson, Kublai Khan, the vision evolved into a more complex religious ideology, justifying further expansion. Kublai doubled the empire's size until, in the late 13th century, he and the rest of Genghis’s ‘Golden Family’ controlled one fifth of the inhabited world. Along the way, he conquered all China, gave the nation the borders it has today, and then, finally, discovered the limits to growth. 
 
Genghis's dream of world rule turned out to be a fantasy. And yet, in terms of the sheer scale of the conquests, never has a vision and the character of one man had such an effect on the world. 
 
Charting the evolution of this vision, John Man provides a unique account of the Mongol Empire, from young Genghis to old Kublai, from a rejected teenager to the world’s most powerful emperor.

Ninja

His ability to put us in the picture, to feel, smell and almost touch the surroundings he describes is matched by his ability to tell a good story.

One couldn't wish for a better storyteller or analyst than John Man

An immensely entertaining history, packed with splendidly blood-thirsty tales.

Ninja is a racy popular history of a difficult and often mythologised subject and should appeal to the armchair warrior in us all.

Man’s wry humour and treks through Japan’s mountains, valleys, temples and shrines adds a vivid and personable dimension to his questing spirit – so much so, you can imagine this being a terrific television series.

A thoroughly researched, appealing examination of the "original men in black".

John Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Japan and China. His books have been published in over twenty languages. His previous books include Samurai, The Great Wall, Xanadu, Attila and the bestselling Genghis Khan.

The Ninjas today are the stuff of myth and legend in comics, film and electronic games. But once they were real, the medieval equivalent of the SAS: spies, saboteurs, assassins. In their secrecy, under-cover skills and determination to survive, they were the opposite of the overt, self destructive samurai. Could they fly? Make themselves invisible? Of course not.It was just that their skills gave them a magical aura. As a result, martial artists and story-tellers have turned them into fantasy creatures, from James Bond to Mutant Turtles. 
 
In Ninja John Man goes in search of the truth. In a journey to the heartland of the ninjas, he takes us from their origins over 1,000 years ago, through their heyday in the civil wars that ended with Japan’s unification in 1600. But that was not the end of the ninja ethos. That re-emerged in World War Two as a little-known counterpart to Japanese militarism. Ninja ways live on in the real ‘last of the ninjas’, Hiroo Onoda, who held out in the Philippine jungle for 30 years.

Samurai

The extraordinary story of the warrior Saigo Takamori, whose death marked the end of the Samurai era.

John Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Japan and China. His books have been published in over twenty languages. His previous books include The Great Wall, Xanadu, Attila and the bestselling Genghis Khan.

The name 'Samurai' is synonymous with the ultimate warrior. With their elaborate armour, fierce swordsmanship and code of honour, the samurai have become iconic figures whose influence can still be felt today . From Kurosawa's epic Seven Samurai to the figure of Darth Vader in Star Wars, to Manga comics and video games, the figure of the fighting samurai still inspires us today. In John Man's new book we discover the truth behind the legend. 
 
From his birth in the shadow of the great volcano Sakurajima, to his glorious death by ritual suicide and disembowelment, Saigo Takamori was the ultimate Samurai leader. His fall brought about the end of hundreds of years of Samurai tradition and in many ways marks the birth of modern Japan. Saigo was a man trapped by paradox: a faithful servant to the emperor, and yet a leader of rebel troops; a mighty Samurai warrior, and also a master of Chinese poetry. His life, and ultimately his death, offer a window into the hundreds of years of culture and tradition that defined the samurai.

Xanadu

The respected historian and travel writer, John Man, tells the remarkable story of the world's most famous traveller - Marco Polo - and the moment when East met West for the first time.

I have read everything written on Marco Polo, and John Man's Xanadu is, by far, my favorite book on the subject. It's not only an over-due and important historical study, it's an entertaining ride every step of the way. As a researcher, John Man not only puts himself on the very ground that Marco traversed, he takes us with him on the epic journey.

JOHN FUSCO, Creator of "Marco Polo", a Netflix Original Series

[John Man] cultivates the sense of wonder in describing unknown lands and unknown peoples; making it easy to imagine being at the court of Kublai Khan, the most powerful man of the time, and experiencing the wonders of another time and place.

An in-the-footsteps-of-Marco-Polo journey through Europe to China which really makes you feel you are wearing Polo's threadbare, sweat-stained slippers as you go

John Man's engaging and diverting study of the historical Xanadu renders the truths as beguiling as the mythology . . . with a combination of travel writing, historical analysis and anecdote, Man uses Xanadu almost as a keyhole through which to describe larger events

John Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in China and Mongolia. His books have been published in over twenty languages. In 2007 he was awarded Mongolia's prestigious Friendship Medal for his contribution of UK-Mongol relations.

**A SOURCE FOR MARCO POLO, A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES** 
 
 
Marco Polo's journey from Venice, through Europe and most of Asia, to the court of Kublai Khan in China is one of the most audacious in history. His account of his experiences, known simply as The Travels, uncovered an entirely new world of emperors and concubines, great buildings - 'stately pleasure domes' in Coleridge's dreaming - huge armies and imperial riches. His book shaped the West's understanding of China for hundreds of years. 
 
John Man travelled in Marco's footsteps to Xanadu, in search of the truth behind Marco's stories; to separate legend from fact. Drawing on his own journey, archaeology and archival study, John Man paints a vivid picture of the man behind the myth and the true story of the great court of Kublai Khan.

The Leadership Secrets of Genghis Khan

21 fascinating lessions from arguably the greatest leader the world has ever seen.

If only Tony Blair had paid attention to Genghis Khan . . . [Genghis] has much to teach us . . . a thought-provoking book.

John Man's new book, extracting 21 business lessons from the Mongol emperor's life, shows that Khan would have Alan Sugar for breakfast

John Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia and China.He is the author of Alpha Beta on the roots of the Roman alphabet, The Gutenberg Revolution on the origins and impact of printing, Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, Kublai Khan, The Terracotta Army and The Great Wall.

Genghis Khan is history's greatest conqueror. As a teenager he was an outcast fleeing enemies on a mountain in northern Mongolia, an exile, a nobody. Yet it took only twenty years for Genghis to build the largest land empire in history - four times the size of Alexander's, twice the size of Rome's. 
 
How did he do it? What lessons does his life reveal about the nature of leadership? What is 'greatness' in leadership? What traits did Genghis possess exactly? Were they unique, or might some apply in other times and other places - even here and today? 
 
In Leadership Secrets of Genghis Khan, John Man re-examines the life of Genghis Khan to discover the qualities, characteristics and strategies that made him the great leader that he was. The answers are sometimes surprising. Genghis was far from just the tyrant that history records, but rather a leader of exceptional vision and modernity. And many of the secrets of his success are as valuable and applicable in today's competitive business world as they were in rallying the Mongol hordes.

The Gutenberg Revolution

'The best book about the origin of books you could read. It is clear, engaging, fast-paced and authoritative' Stephen Fry

The Gutenberg Revolution is the best book about the origin of books you could read. It is clear, engaging, fast-paced and authoritative.

Extremely erudite and enormously enthusiastic

Vivid . . . engaging, detailed and highly readable . . . a window on an extraordinary display of consummate skill and creative genius

John Man is the author of Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, Kublai Khan, The Terracotta Army, The Great Wall and Alpha Beta.

In 1450, all Europe's books were handcopied and amounted to only a few thousand. By 1500 they were printed, and numbered in their millions. The invention of one man - Johann Gutenberg - had caused a revolution. Printing by movable type was a discovery waiting to happen. 
 
Born in 1400 in Mainz, Germany, Gutenberg struggled against a background of plague and religious upheaval to bring his remarkable invention to light. His story is full of paradox: his ambition was to reunite all Christendom, but his invention shattered it; he aimed to make a fortune, but was cruelly denied the fruits of his life's work. Yet history remembers him as a visionary; his discovery marks the beginning of the modern world.

Alpha Beta

How the alphabet shaped the western world

Crisp, taut, and as clear as a bell ... a fascinating story with many a beguiling subplot along the way.

The story of how [the alphabet] came into being is a fascinating one and Man is the ideal writer to tell it. His scholarship seems boundless... he also has a journalist's ear for a story... straight out of Indiana Jones

Absorbing tale ... many surprises on the way.

A scholarly and fascinating history of the alphabet, from hieroglyphics to letters, and its dissemination from culture to culture and from past to present

John Man is an historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia and China. His books include The Great Wall,The Terracotta Army,The Gutenberg Revolution, Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, and Attila the Hun.

The idea behind the alphabet - that language with all its wealth of meaning can be recorded with a few meaningless signs - is an extraordinary one. So extraordinary, in fact, that it has occurred only once in human history: in Egypt about 4000 years ago. Alpha Beta follows the emergence of the western alphabet as it evolved into its present form, contributing vital elements to our sense of identity along the way. The Israelites used it to define their God, the Greeks to capture their myths, the Romans to display their power. And today, it seems on the verge of yet another expansion through the internet. 
 
Tracking the alphabet as it leaps from culture to culture, John Man weaves discoveries, mysteries and controversies into a story of fundamental historical significance.

The Great Wall

The extraordinary story of China's wonder of the world

John Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia. After reading German and French at Oxford he did two postgraduate courses, one in the history of science at Oxford , the other in Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies. His GOBI: TRACKING THE DESERT (Weidenfeld, 1997) was the first book on the subject in English since the 1920s. He is also the author of THE ATLAS OF THE YEAR 1000, (Penguin 1999), ALPHA BETA (Headline, 2000) on the roots of the Roman alphabet, THE GUTENBERG REVOLUTION (Headline 2002) on the origins and impact of printing, GENGHIS KHAN, ATTILA THE HUN and KUBLAI KHAN.

China's Great Wall north of Beijing is one of the world's most famous sights. Millions every year climb the line of stone snaking over mountains. We all feel we know the Wall. But we are wrong. It is too big, too varied, too complex to be captured by a few images or a day-trip. 
 
Myths surround it. Many believe that the stone barrier marches across all China, that it has been in existence for over 2,000 years, and that it is the only man-made structure visible from the Moon. In fact, most of it is made of earth, and much of it is not there at all. It cannot even be seen from earth orbit, let alone the Moon. Estimates of its length vary from 1,500 to 5,000 miles. Even its name is deceptive - it is not an it, a single entity, but many walls (hence the uncertain length), built at different times. 
 
Yet behind the confusion are great simplicities. The many walls are united by two ideas - self-protection and unity - which go back to the First Emperor, who founded the nation in 221 BC. For 2,000 years, the Wall marked the border between China and nomadic peoples to the north and west. Mutual hostility inspired centuries of attacks, counter-attacks and Wall-building, until the northward spread of China in the 20th century made the Wall redundant. 
 
For this riveting account, John Man travelled the Wall from the far western deserts to the Pacific, exploring the grandest sections and many 'wild' ones. He is the first writer to describe two unknown walls in Mongolia. He covers two millennia of history, from the country's first unification to the present day, when the Great Wall, built and rebuilt over centuries of war, has become a symbol of tranquillity.

Kublai Khan

The authoritative biography of the great Mongol warlord, by the author of Genghis Khan and Attila.

John Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia. After reading German and French at Oxford he did two postgraduate courses, one in the history of science at Oxford , the other in Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. 
 
John has written acclaimed and highly successful biographies of Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun and Kublai Khan as well as Alpha Beta, on the history of the alphabet, and The Gutenberg Revolution, on the invention of printing. He is fast becoming one of the world's most widely read historians.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan 
A stately pleasure dome decree 
 
Kublai Khan lives on in the popular imagination thanks to these two lines of poetry by Coleridge. But the true story behind this legend is even more fantastic than the poem would have us believe. He inherited the second largest land empire in history from his grandfather, Genghis Khan. He promptly set about extending this into the biggest empire the world has ever seen, extending his rule from China to Iraq, from Siberia to Afghanistan. His personal domain covered sixty-percent of all Asia, and one-fifth of the world's land area. 
 
The West first learnt of this great Khan through the reports of Marco Polo. Kublai had not been born to rule, but had clawed his way to leadership, achieving power only in his 40s. He had inherited Genghis Khan's great dream of world domination. But unlike his grandfather he saw China and not Mongolia as the key to controlling power and turned Genghis' unwieldy empire into a federation. Using China's great wealth, coupled with his shrewd and subtle government, he created an empire that was the greatest since the fall of Rome, and shaped the modern world as we know it today. He gave China its modern-day borders and his legacy is that country's resurgence, and the superpower China of tomorrow.

Attila The Hun

The first popular biography of the great warlord, Attila the Hun.

'One could not wish for a better storyteller or analyst than John Man... His Attila is superb, as compellingly readable as it is impressive in its scholarship: with his light touch, the Huns and their king live as never before... There is something fascinating and new on every page'

'Man does for the reader that most difficult of tasks: he conjures up an ancient people in an alien landscape in such a way as to make them live . . . a gripping present day quest'

'Attila is known as a savage but there was much more to this great warrior. Man takes his readers on a thrilling ride alongside the man who marauded across Europe, striking terror into the hearts of entire nations'

'Racy and imaginative...sympathetically and readably puts flesh and bones on one of history's most turbulent characters'

'Man's excellent writing breathes new life into a character whose spirit lives on in China and Mongolia today'

'Man is an excellent guide...well-versed in Mongolian, he has travelled extensively in the country while researching the more mysterious elements Genghis' life, and this experience shines through the book...he writes knowledgeably'

A top biography...This is great, grisly stuff and an education for anyone

... This bright, engaging and breezy book ... suits the tenor of our times.

John Man is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia. After reading German and French at Oxford he did two postgraduate courses, one in the history of science at Oxford, the other in Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies. His Gobi: Tracking the Desert (Weidenfeld, 1997) was the first book on the subject in English since the 1920s. He is also the author of The Atlas of the Year 1000, (Penguin 1999), Alpha Beta (Headline, 2000) on the roots of the Roman alphabet, The Gutenberg Revolution (Headline 2002) on the origins and impact of printing, and the bestselling Genghis Khan. His latest book, Kublai Khan, is now available from Bantam Press.

The name Attila the Hun has become a byword for barbarism, savagery and violence. His is a truly household name, but what do we really know about the man himself, his position in history and the world in which he lived? This riveting biography reveals the man behind the myth. 
 
In the years 434-454AD the fate of Europe hung upon the actions of one man, Attila, king of the Huns. The decaying Roman empire still stood astride the Western World, from its twin capitals of Rome and Constantinople, but it was threatened by a new force, the much-feared Barbarian hordes. It was Attila who united the Barbarian tribes into a single, amazingly-effective army. He launched two violent attacks against the eastern and western halves of the Roman empire, attacks which earned him his reputation for mindless devastation, and brought an end to Rome's pre-eminence in Europe. 
 
Attila was coarse, capricious, arrogant, ruthless and brilliant. An illiterate and predatory tribal chief, he had no interest in administration, but was a wily politician, who, from his base in the grasslands of Hungary, used secretaries and ambassadors to bring him intelligence on his enemies. He was a leader whose unique qualities made him supreme among tribal leaders, but whose weaknesses ensured the collapse of his empire after his death.

Genghis Khan

The first popular biography of the legendary Mongol emperor and warlord.

Absorbing and beautifully written...he [Man] conjures up an ancient people in an alien landscape in such a way as to make them live...a thrilling account

First-rate...lively and argued with elan...a fine introduction to the subject, as well as a rattling good read

A fine, well-written and well-researched book

An eloquent account, not only of a fascinating historical figure and his people, but of the resonance of history itself

John Man's brilliant, vivid and erudite Genghis Khan brings conqueror and Mongols to life

'Fascinating...every bit as gripping as its subject deserves...vividly captures the warlord's charisma, together with the mixture of ruthlessness, military genius and self-belief which, Man argues, made him the greatest leader ever...History doesn't come much more enthralling than this'

'Man is an excellent guide...well-versed in Mongolian, he has travelled extensively in the country while researching the more mysterious elements of Genghis' life, and this experience shines through the book...he writes knowledgeably'

For those who might want to learn more about Genghis and those who followed him, I recommend the wonderful John Man book Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection.

Conn Iggulden, author of Bones of the Hills

John Man is a historian and traveller with special interests in Mongolia and the history of written communication. His GOBI: TRACKING THE DESERT was the first book on the subject since the 1920s. He is also the author of THE ATLAS OF THE YEAR 1000, a portrait of the world at the turn of the millennium, ALPHA BETA, on the roots of the alphabet, and THE GUTENBERG REVOLUTION, an examination of the origins and impact of printing.&nbsp;His most recent book is GENGHIS KHAN. &nbsp;He lives in London.

Genghis Khan - creator of the greatest empire the world has ever seen - is one of history's immortals. In Central Asia, they still use his name to frighten children. In China, he is honoured as the founder of a dynasty. In Mongolia he is the father of the nation. In the USA, Time magazine, voted Genghis Khan 'the most important person of the last millennium'. But how much do we really know about this man? How is it that an unlettered, unsophisticated warrior-nomad came to have such a profound effect on world politics that his influence can still be felt some 800 years later? 
How he united the deeply divided Mongol peoples and went on to rule an empire that stretched from China in the east to Poland in the west (one substantially larger than Rome's at its zenith) is an epic tale of martial genius and breathtaking cruelty. John Man's towering achievement in this book, enriched by his experiences in China and Mongolia today, is to bring this little-known story vividly and viscerally to life.

John Man

The First Nomadic Empire and the Making of China

'Man does for the reader that most difficult of tasks: he conjures up an ancient people in an alien landscape in such a way as to make them live.' - Guardian 
 
The people of the first nomadic empire left no written records, but from 200 BC they dominated the heart of Asia for 400 years. They changed the world. The Mongols, today’s descendants of Genghis Khan, see them as ancestors. Their rise cemented Chinese unity and inspired the first Great Wall. Their heirs under Attila the Hun helped destroy the Roman Empire. 
 
We don’t know what language they spoke, but they became known as Xiongnu, or Hunnu, a term passed down the centuries and across Eurasia, enduring today in shortened form as ‘Hun’. Outside Asia precious little is known of their rich history, but new evidence reframes our understanding of the indelible mark they left on a vast region stretching from Europe and sweeping right across Central Asia deep into China. 
 
Based on meticulous research and new archaeological evidence, Barbarians at the Wall traces their epic story, and shows how the nomadic cultures of the steppes gave birth to a ‘barbarian empire’ with the wealth and power to threaten the civilised order of the ancient world.

John Man

Praise for Barbarians at the Wall

Man does for the reader that most difficult of tasks: he conjures up an ancient people in an alien landscape in such a way as to make them live.

His ability to put us in the picture, to feel, smell and almost touch the surroundings he describes, is matched by his ability to tell a good story.

Books by John Man

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