Kenneth W. Harl – författare

An epic history of how the so-called 'barbarians of the steppes' shaped the modern world. ‘A rollercoaster of historical narration’ History Today'This is a history of epic scope that brings together the empires of the steppe land with the caravan cities of the Silk Road and imperial China' Martyn Rady, author of The Middle Kingdoms'A sweeping account of forty-five centuries of nomadic tribes' Gillian Tett, Financial Times'Flips the script to present the booted, felt-capped, leather-trousered and kaftan-wearing nomads as the bearers of civilisation . . . Harl's exhaustively researched book will ensure they rejoin the narrative of world history' Marc David Baer, GuardianThe barbarian nomads of the Eurasian steppes played a decisive role in world history, but their achievements have gone largely unnoticed. These tribes produced some of the world’s greatest conquerors: Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, among others. And their deeds still resonate today.Indeed, these nomads built long-lasting empires, facilitated the first global trade of the Silk Road and disseminated religions, technology, knowledge and goods of every description that enriched and changed the lives of so many across Europe, China and the Middle East. From a single region emerged a great many peoples – the Huns, the Mongols, the Magyars, the Turks, the Xiongnu, the Scythians, the Goths – all of whom went on to profoundly and irrevocably shape the modern world.In this enthralling new history, Professor Kenneth W. Harl draws on a lifetime of scholarship to vividly recreate the lives of these peoples from their beginnings to the early modern age. Their brutal struggle to survive on the steppes bred a resilient, pragmatic people ever-ready to learn from their neighbours. In warfare, they dominated the battlefield for over fifteen hundred years. Under charismatic rulers, they could topple empires and win their own.

An epic history of how the so-called ''barbarians of the steppes'' shaped the modern world. ''A rollercoaster of historical narration'' History Today''This is a history of epic scope that brings together the empires of the steppe land with the caravan cities of the Silk Road and imperial China'' Martyn Rady, author of The Middle Kingdoms''A sweeping account of forty-five centuries of nomadic tribes'' Gillian Tett, Financial Times''Flips the script to present the booted, felt-capped, leather-trousered and kaftan-wearing nomads as the bearers of civilisation . . . Harl''s exhaustively researched book will ensure they rejoin the narrative of world history'' Marc David Baer, GuardianThe barbarian nomads of the Eurasian steppes played a decisive role in world history, but their achievements have gone largely unnoticed. These tribes produced some of the world''s greatest conquerors: Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, among others. And their deeds still resonate today. Indeed, these nomads built long-lasting empires, facilitated the first global trade of the Silk Road and disseminated religions, technology, knowledge and goods of every description that enriched and changed the lives of so many across Europe, China and the Middle East. From a single region emerged a great many peoples – the Huns, the Mongols, the Magyars, the Turks, the Xiongnu, the Scythians, the Goths – all of whom went on to profoundly and irrevocably shape the modern world. In this enthralling new history, Professor Kenneth W. Harl draws on a lifetime of scholarship to vividly recreate the lives of these peoples from their beginnings to the early modern age. Their brutal struggle to survive on the steppes bred a resilient, pragmatic people ever-ready to learn from their neighbours. In warfare, they dominated the battlefield for over fifteen hundred years. Under charismatic rulers, they could topple empires and win their own.

An epic history of how the so-called ''barbarians of the steppes'' shaped the modern world. ''A rollercoaster of historical narration'' History Today''This is a history of epic scope that brings together the empires of the steppe land with the caravan cities of the Silk Road and imperial China'' Martyn Rady, author of The Middle Kingdoms''A sweeping account of forty-five centuries of nomadic tribes'' Gillian Tett, Financial Times''Flips the script to present the booted, felt-capped, leather-trousered and kaftan-wearing nomads as the bearers of civilisation . . . Harl''s exhaustively researched book will ensure they rejoin the narrative of world history'' Marc David Baer, GuardianThe barbarian nomads of the Eurasian steppes played a decisive role in world history, but their achievements have gone largely unnoticed. These tribes produced some of the world''s greatest conquerors: Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, among others. And their deeds still resonate today. Indeed, these nomads built long-lasting empires, facilitated the first global trade of the Silk Road and disseminated religions, technology, knowledge and goods of every description that enriched and changed the lives of so many across Europe, China and the Middle East. From a single region emerged a great many peoples – the Huns, the Mongols, the Magyars, the Turks, the Xiongnu, the Scythians, the Goths – all of whom went on to profoundly and irrevocably shape the modern world. In this enthralling new history, Professor Kenneth W. Harl draws on a lifetime of scholarship to vividly recreate the lives of these peoples from their beginnings to the early modern age. Their brutal struggle to survive on the steppes bred a resilient, pragmatic people ever-ready to learn from their neighbours. In warfare, they dominated the battlefield for over fifteen hundred years. Under charismatic rulers, they could topple empires and win their own.

The premier form of Roman money since the time of the Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.), coins were vital to the success of Roman state finances, taxation, markets, and commerce beyond the frontiers. Yet until now, the economic and social history of Rome has been written independently of numismatic studies, which detail such technical information as weight standards, mint output, hoards, and finds at archaeological sites. In Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700, noted classicist and numismatist Kenneth W. Harl brings together these two fields in the first comprehensive history of how Roman coins were minted and used. Drawing on literary and documentary sources as well as on current methods of metallurgical study and statistical analysis of coins from archaeological sites, Harl presents a sweeping overview of a system of coinage in use for more than a millennium. Challenging much recent scholarship, he emphasizes the important role played by coins in the overseas expansion of the Roman Republic during the second century B.C., in imperial inflationary policies during the third and fourth centuries A.D., and in the dissolution of the Roman Mediterranean order in the seventh century A.D. He also offers the first region-by-region analysis of prices and wages throughout Roman history with reference to the changing buying power of the major circulating denominations. And he shows how the seldom-studied provincial, civic, and imitative coinages were in fact important components of Roman currency. Richly illustrated with photographic reproductions of nearly three hundred specimens, Coinage in the Roman Economy offers a significant contribution to Roman economic history. It will be of interest to scholars and students of classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, as well as to professional and amateur numismatists.