Review: Barbarians at the Wall: The First Nomadic Empire and the Making of China

Barbarians at the Wall: The First Nomadic Empire and the Making of China by John Man
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Xiongnu, based on an almost unpronounceable name to most English speakers, sound very obscure. In fact, these were giants of ancient China. They held the Qin and Han Dynasties to ransom for centuries. They were mighty, they conquered vast swathes of kingdoms around China and even into China itself. The Han dynasty would score victories but never were able to crush them entirely. This book goes through the long history of the Xiongnu and the potential links to the Huns of Attila. John Man is a good author, with a tendency to repeat half of his material in the form of a new release with a slightly different focus than his last book meaning that he only has to write 50% of a book. This time it is almost entirely different material to some of his books I've felt have repeated the same photos and paragraphs half a dozen times. This one deserves a read and a 5*.

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