NEW RELEASE
The Han-Xiongnu War
133 BC–89 AD
The Struggle of China and a Steppe Empire Told Through Its Key Figures
Scott Forbes Crawford examines the war in a lively, engaging narrative. He builds a mosaic
encompassing the centuries of conflict through biographies of fifteen historical figures: the Chinese and Xiongnu emperors who first led their armies into battle; ‘peace bride’ Princess Jieyou, whose marriage to a steppe king forged a vital Chinese alliance and positioned her to
feed intelligence to the Han Court; the explorer-diplomat Zhang Qian, who almost inadvertently established the Silk Road, among other pivotal individuals. Their stories capture the war’s breadth, the enduring impact on Han society and statecraft in what became a Chinese golden age, and the doomed resistance of the Xiongnu to an ever-strengthening juggernaut.
“Scott Forbes Crawford has crafted a superb historical narrative about the clash between two ancient superpowers that influences Asia to this very day. For those who might wonder whether ancient history can be a page-turner, The Han-Xiongnu War assuredly answers that question in the affirmative.”
Scott Forbes Crawford
When at age eight Scott moved with his family from Washington, DC to Tokyo, a new world of discovery and challenge opened to him. Enchanted by Japanese culture as a boy, the spell of foreign lands only deepened when as an adult Scott settled in Beijing, where he became an author (and a father).