"For the Song, it would been absolutely inconceivable that the Mongols could take over the whole of China," says John Man, author of a biography of Kublai Khan. "It would have been like, I don't know, ...

Simon Schama set the bar sky-high. In A History of Britain, the Columbia University professor told his tale with a passion and panache that won him global acclaim. Schama is a hard act to follow.

'Better 50 years of Europe,' said Tennyson, 'than a cycle of Cathay.' He spoke with all the confidence of an Englishman living at the height of his country's power, but there was nothing novel in his ...

Genghis Khan moved his troops into the quasi-Chinese Chin-ruled north China in 1211, and in 1215 they destroyed the capital city. Hisson Ogodei conquered all of North China by 1234 and ruled it from ...