Frontiers in Question: Eurasian Borderlands, 700-1700 FROM THE PUBLISHER
The nine essays in this book seek to answer the questions of what made a "frontier" between the ancient and modern eras, how people imagined their frontiers, and why historians have sometimes had very different ideas of what these frontiers were like. The collection spreads across much of Europe and Asia, familiar frontiers in Western Europe and around the Mediterranean Sea, and includes examples from China, Mesopotamia, and Lithuania. Ranging from the eighth to the seventeenth centuries, the essays challenge us to rethink our modern notions of frontiers as neat lines intended to divide one state from another because frontiers in the past were often far more complex.
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
Intended for students and lay readers as well as experts, ten essays explore the concept of frontiers in early Eurasian history. The introduction notes that American readers might use the term interchangeably with but explains that while the former term successfully conveys division, it does not simultaneously invoke interaction, which is part of the concept of frontiers discussed here. The essays explore such disparate frontiers as those in the British Isles, France, Spain, the Eastern Mediterranean, China, Mesopotamia, and Lithuania. In the historical attitudes toward frontiers illuminated herein, readers may find relevance to the prevalent border disputes of today's international affairs. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)
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