The New Dominion

James A. Millward. Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang. New York: Columbia University Press. 2007. Pp. xix, 440. $40.00

James Millward has done the Xinjiang studies community a great service by authoring the first comprehensive historical survey that takes this region as its primary focus without adopting any explicit political thesis. This contribution is a significant step towards validating Xinjiang studies as a valid field of academic inquiry. In addition to this noble deed, Eurasian Crossroads offers much more to both the general reader and non-specialist, particularly those interested in political history.

As befits any historical survey, the organizing principle of the work is a chronological progression that begins with the prehistorical era with the Tienshanosaurus and concludes in the present day with a discussion of noted individuals like Adil Hoshur. Millward divides his book into eight substantive chapters: Ancient Encounters (earliest times – 8^th century), Central Eurasia Ascendant (9^th – 16^th centuries), Between Islam and China (16^th – 19^th centuries), Between Empire and Nation (late 19^th century – early 20^th century), Between China and the Soviet Union (1910s – 1940s), In the People’s Republic of China (1950s – 1980s), Between China and the World (1990s – 2000s), and Conclusion: Balancing Acts. As these chapter titles suggest, the breadth of coverage is only achieved through substantial reduction in its depth. This trade off comes as the cost of more thoroughly discussing events prior to the late nineteenth century, which only occupy approximately one-third of the book.

This book is best used as a substantial piece of background reading for those who seek some information about the historitcal background of today’s complication political situation or an introductory level history text. Readers approach the work for these purposes stand to benefit the most from its content. However, all readers will likely be grateful to Millward for included an extensive timeline as an appendix, which reports contemporary events in “Northern Xinjiang, Southern Xinjiang and Nearby Regions.” This straightforward chronicle of events is an excellent map through the very complex territory that is the history of Xinjiang.

Unfortunately, Eurasian Crossroads also suffers from some significant defects – although these shortcomings will not seriously compromise the book’s value to all except the most serious of the book’s readers. The most serious lacuna in Millward’s work is readily apparent after perusing the bibliography or reading the text: there are essentially no Turkic or Persian language primary sources and very few Russian or Japanese language secondary sources. Millward goes very far on the basis of previously published sources in English and Chinese, but does not go the extra mile to explore local primary sources or a rich body of secondary literature on his own. The discussion of the 14^th – 19^th centuries, which features a most cursory overview of the Chagataids and Khojas in Kashgaria, could certainly be enriched by considering to a primary material such as the chronicle of Shah Mahmud Churas or the Tarikh-i Kashgar. Moreover, secondary material written by non-Anglophone authors available in French, Russian and Japanese also remains beyond the purview of the book. This limitation to the sources is unfortunate precisely because scholars writing in these languages have produced some of the best available scholarship relating to the 14^th-19^th centuries. The lack of any mention of these sources suggests a related shortcoming of Millward’s book that is relevant to most readers; namely, without integrating (or at least acknowledging) as much relevant primary and secondary material as possible Eurasian Crossroads falls short of being an excellent introduction to the growing body of relevant literature. This book easily could have been an excellent survey of the field as well as a solid survey of historical events, but it is not.

Overall, Eurasian Crossroads is a first attempt at writing a relatively balanced, scholarly historical survey of Xinjiang and is an excellent quick reference for anyone looking to contextualize contemporary political developments in a historical context. The field still appears open, however, for a more comprehensive survey of events prior to the rise of Yaqub Beg and for a lengthy critical review of historical scholarship relating to Xinjiang.