Defending Heaven

China's Mongol Wars, 1209-1370

De: James Waterson, John Man - Foreword

Narrado por: Derek Perkins

Defending Heaven brings together, for the first time in one volume, a complete history of the Jin, Song, and Ming dynasties' wars fought against the Mongols. Lasting nearly two centuries, these wars, fought to defend Chinese civilization against a brutal and unrelenting foe, pitted personal heroics against the inexorable Mongol war machine and involved every part of the Chinese state.

The resistance of the Chinese dynasties to the Khans is a complex and rich story of shifting alliances and political scheming, vast armies and navies, bloody battles and an astonishing technological revolution. The great events of China's Mongol war are described and analyzed, detailing their immediate and later implications for Chinese history.

In this excellent new book, James Waterson tackles this fascinating subject with characteristic verve and skill. Setting the Mongol war in the wider context of China's ancient and almost perpetual conflict with the northern nomads, it sheds light on the evolution of China's military society and the management, command and control of the army by the Chinese state.

©2013 James Waterson; Foreword copyright 2013 by John Man (P)2020 Tantor

Good book, but confusing

Liked the book, but the flurry of names and places with the bad pronunciation confused me.

I struggled to keep track of all the names, but I

This could easily be a dry history, but it is instead fascinating and informative, although it does start with list of events and their dates, helpful for putting things in context but dull as a brick to listen to. Once the story gets started the book gets good. Derek Perkins, the narrator of the audiobook is excellent and James Waterson, the writer, is superb, vibrant and personable.

So informative and beautifully constructed narrative.

This was a wonderful history of a tumultuous period in Chinese history. It’s amazing to realize how technologically forward these cultures were in comparison to their western counterparts. The battles were wonderfully detailed, not so militantly descriptive but in such a way that you felt the terror of the victims and the absolute conquest of the victors. The ins and outs of the imperial courts were a bit hard to follow, but that was just because of the similarity in the key figures names. So my own issue, not the narrator or writing. Beautifully narrated! Highly recommend for those interested in East Asian histories!

Good history book

I love Chinese history books the history is so extensive there's thousands of years to draw from this bill covers about 200 of them and its detailed and easy to understand with just basic knowledge of Chinese or Mongol history

Mongols didn't invent china

this is enjoyable I guess, but for me sits in the gap between a fun story history book and an actual analysis. the analysis is very shallow, the storytelling is ok.
like favorably comparing Homer's Iliad to the Song court's record keeping and biased court reporting was just not something anyone thought through, I feel