Holy War in China: The Muslim Rebellion and State in Chinese Central Asia, 1864-1877

I am not going to review the content of this book as the other reviewers have done it sufficient justice. For those interested in the Kindle version and hoping to use the book as a resource for more than just casual reading I would like to suggest one caveat: The end notes are not linked and all of approximately one thousand end notes are included in the table of contents link "Notes," making for extremely labor-intensive reference-searching on the scale of dozens, if not hundreds, of page clicks. Using the Search function to locate particular end notes is ineffective. Please let me know when/if these issues are updated.

The level of attention typically granted to the Xinjiang region by the Westerners can be epitomized by its coverage in one of the best atlases that I own ( Rand McNally Atlas of the World, Masterpiece Edition, 1994 ). While covering pretty much the entire populated Earth surface with 1:3,000,000 or 1:6,000:000 scale maps, the atlas simply has a gap between Gansu and Kazakhstan. Our history books are often not much better than our atlases in treating this region - even though someday we may suddenly realize its importance.Kim Hodong's book makes a good big step toward filling this gap of coverage of the region's history. After providing a good background on the relations of the region with the Chinese imperial power, the Kokand (Khoqand) Khanate, and the Dzungars (Mongols) over a century or two, it gives a detailed account over an important and tragic period in its history, the many-sided war between the Qing government, the Dugans (Muslim Chinese), and Yaqub's Beg Turkic (Uyghur) state of Yettishahr (Seven Cities) throughout 1864-1877. Drawing heavily both on Muslim sources (in Uyghur Turkic, Persian, Arabic? the author does not always state) and on the sources from the Chinese side, as well as on the reports from the conflict's witnesses everywhere else (Russians, British, Ottomans), the book provides a well researched and balanced coverage that is likely unparalleled in English-language literature (or, probably, anywhere else).One should note that despite the title, the book concentrates mostly on the events in Xinjiang, mentioning the parallel Muslim rebellion in Gansu/Shaanxi/Ningxia or Yunnan only to the extent it is needed for the account. Jonathan N. Lipman's " Familiar Strangers " would probably be a good companion book for someone interested in the events there.The book also does not go into the rather interesting details of the Russian occupation of Kuldja (the Ili River Basin) in 1871-1881, but again this is covered in a number of other books, some in English.Overall, Kim's work offers an indispensable source for anyone interested in the subject.