Events
Happy 2024.
I have begun a new book called Cobalt Blue: Marco Polo in Dadu. Here is the first chapter.
Chapter One The Closing of the Gate
On board a sailing ship off the southeastern coast of China, the Prince of I, who was not yet ten, was declared to be Emperor Tuanzung, Son of Heaven and ruler of the Southern Song Dynasty.
The ship put into the southern port of Chuanzhou where the Magistrate was an Inner Asian Muslim who had a Chinese name, Pu Shoukeng, as was the custom with the Muslims of Song. The Magistrate's elder brother, Pu Shoucheng, held the post of Superintendent of Maritime Trade for the port of the city.
It was unfortunate for the boy emperor that elder brother Pu was no longer loyal to the Song, but had gone over to the side of the Mongols, to the side of the barbarians, the mounted archers from the north who had invaded and conquered the South. Their dynasty was called the Yuan and their Emperor was Khubilai Khan. The Mongol barbarian wanted nothing more than to ascend the Dragon Throne and rule as the Emperor of China.
When the Emperor Tuanzung and his courtiers reached the Chuanzhou city gates, the Magistrate closed the gates and would not let them enter. He refused refuge for the boy emperor, and instead, he retired to a Buddhist monastery where he was unreachable in regard to his official duties.
The news of the fall of the Song capital had reached the ears of Magistrate Pu. He sent a messenger to the imperial party waiting at the gates. "It is my belief that the time of the Song has passed and the time of the Yuan has arrived. This is the will of Heaven. It would be better for all if the Emperor surrendered."
The boy emperor's boat fled south, stopping at ports along the coast. Everywhere they met with the same reception. The imperial party was turned away at town after town.
As they were fleeing, a violent storm arose at sea. The ship nearly went down with all hands. Emperor Tuanzung was sickly and died of illnesses caused by exposure to the elements. The courtiers enthroned his half-brother, the Prince of Kwang, as Emperor Tiping. A senior courtier became regent and, as there was no on else on board the ship, ruled in the new emperor's name.
They fled south, to Vietnam, but there too, the season and the weather were against them. Their ship ran against a rocky shoal in a high wind and sank. As the vessel went down, the senior courtier took the Emperor in his arms, jumped overboard and drowned.
Marco Polo did not hear of these events until he heard the story from Emperor Khubilai Khan. This was at the reception in Dadu.
Here is a link to a show of Yuan art at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
Readers may read as a serialized story on Kindle Vella, the first three episodes free. After that, a small and reasonable subscription. Read it as a paperback and eBook, on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
The story opens as the great conqueror is getting on in years and feels that he has so much left to accomplish. He hears from the make of his secret weapon about a Chinese sage who possesses an elixir of immortality. He wants it.
The story is told in forty episodes. Read about the early life of Genghis Khan and his rise to power: how he triumphs over adversity to create the greatest land-based empire in global history.
A portrait of his youth, the murder of his father, abandonment and betrayal at the hands of friends and allies. The portrait of the Supreme Khan as a lawgiver, a brilliant organizer, a builder of roads, a creator of new battle tactics based on the Grand Hunt, the giver of a written language and above all, a promoter of trade.
Available on Amazon in papervack and as an eBook.
The victories of Hulegu Khan in the Middle East bring the Mongol Khans into the world of the Crusades. The heirs of Chinggis Khan are no longer the far-off masters of Central Asia. The Mongol empire has expanded into Russia and has a border with Europe and the-Islamic lands.
Christians and Saracens (Muslims) have been fighting over the Holy Land for 100 years and they hate each other
King Richard the Lion-hearted has been defeated by the great Kurdish warrior Saladin. King Louis IX has been captured and resides in an Egyptian jail where he is being held for ransom. Hulegu sends envoys to meet the envoys of Christian rulers on the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean. Will the Mongols align with the Christian Crusader Kings or the Muslim rulers?
Who will become allies? Why did the Egyptian rulers turn the alliance down? And what about the Mongol defeat at Ain Jalut? Was it a huge blow to Mongol invincibility or did they consider it a minor battle, without importance? Is that why Hulegu took all his troops back to Persia leaving only a small number to fight under the command of a Christian general?
Hulegu Khan is a spare. Both his elder brothers become emperors while he becomes the viceroy of Iran and Iraq.
Hulegu does not take up residence in Baghdad, but lives on the steppes with his army like a true nomad. He may have laid siege to Baghdad and put it to the torch, but after he takes possession of the city, he rebuilds it as a commercial and intellectual center.
The destruction of the caliphate is lamented by the faithful to this day. Hulegu is the Christian Khan whose heirs convert to Islam. One of his descendants, Ghazan, becomes one of the greatest rulers in Muslim history.
Il-Khan: Why Hulegu Khan Destroyed the Assassins and the Caliphate, Book Five of the Silk Road Series: The Heirs of Chinggis Khan coming soon.
Fish Shoes Published Online on Wattpad
I am pleased to announce that my serialized story Fish Shoes: A Palace Drama is now available on Wattpad, the serialized story platform. The serialized story has been gathered in book form and is nominated for the Freeman Book Prize of the National Consortium for Teachers about Asia.
The first chapter, "The Princess and the Horse Race" will be published in the Fall Issue of Education about Asia, the magazine of the Association for Asian Studies. For educators who are specialists on Asia and those who are non-specialists, the story may be assigned to classes in world history at the middle school, secondary school and undergraduate levels.
The Mongol invasion of Korea is the least known chapter of the Mongol Empire because traditional treatments of the Silk Road are about the overland Silk Road. Korea is on the maritime Silk Road, and is linked in trade to China and Japan as well as Southeast Asia. This is the shift from land trade to sea trade and so is an important chapter in the conduct of trade. I also deal with the realization by the Mongol Emperor that he is fighting the Southern Song in naval battles and that cavalry warfare, the expertise of the Mongols, is no longer adequate.
To read the story online: Go to the Wattpad website or download the Wattpad app, search the title Fish Shoes or my pen name, Wu Wolff, and you will get the story in twenty-five episodes, free. This story is based on an authoritative bibliography. It is fiction that is true to history.
{Note: Educators and students: Please leave me your comments. I'd love to have feedback.)
A Publishing First: A Serialized Story The Khan's Mistake
I am pleased to announce The Khan's Mistake: The Fight for the Throne. The story appears, by invitation, on Kindle Vella, an Amazon platform for serialized stories There are twelve episodes, each of them a quick read, with more to come. The reader gets the first three episodes free, and after that, pays a small subscription fee.
Inspired by Mark Twain and Charles Dickens who serialized their stories in newspapers, I decided to use the new digital technology for the distribution of an original literary work.
Stories about the passing of power from one generation of rulers to another continue to fascinate readers and viewers in our time. Think of the British royal house and the events up to and after the death of Elizabeth II. Think of the television series Game of Thrones and its sequels and prequels.
The fight for the rulership of the vast Mongol Empire after the death of The Conqueror Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan) is no different.
In keeping with my theme of skulduggery in high places, I explore a timeless theme among royal houses: Who deserves the throne?
Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan) may have been the greatest military genius in global history, but he made his great error in failing to secure the throne after his passing. Why? The Conqueror did not believe in hereditary rule, because he had defeated too many rules who had inherited their thrones, including the Shah of Khwarezm, the Muslim ruler of Central Asia. The theme of the story is the role of flawed heirs to thrones, including his own named successor Ogodei, who was an alcoholic and a man devoted to the women of his vast harem. The business of state bored him. He would rather be hunting. This story is like Game of Thrones, only with better armies and larger than life characters.
Here is the link. The Khan's Mistake: The Fight for the Throne
The genre is: action-adventure combined with historical drama. Perhaps the most rewarding lesson of the serialized story is the analysis of the strategic thinking of Chinggis Khan. He never lost a battle. What was the secret of the training of his army and his own approach to war? Why are his battles still being taught in military colleges? Why were his battle tactics imitated by the German General Rommel during World War II in the fight in North Africa?
I designed the serialized stories to be used for young readers from ninth grade and up, for teachers and professors, to be assigned for classes in world history. Both books have authoritative bibliographies. See my blog page for the Select Bibliographies. I have made these books accurate to the history, following the model of David McCullough in his work in historical drama made from his histories.
Please drop me an email by clicking on the link on this site and let me know how you like it.
I am pleased to announce that I will be appearing at a screening of the Batu: Historical Detective documentary with director Rachid Noughmanov, the founder of the Kazakh New Wave. We will be discussing the Mongol conquest of Russia, a story that has been long forgotten in the West, but is relevant to today's headlines.
Vladmir Putin has claimed that Kyiv belongs to Moscow, but Kyiv was the Mother of Russian Cities when Moscow was a provincial backwater, with a timber wall around it, whose citizens traded furs on the Volga.
The screening will be at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University, the Russian Studies department, on the evening of September 27th, 2022 at 118th and Amsterdam in New York City.
More details will be posted as they become available.
My Interview for a Documentary About Batu Khan
Thanks to Director Rachid Nougmanov, a senior producer at TOO Cingram in Kazakhstan, and his superb crew. They arrived on October 9th and interviewed me for a documentary about Batu Khan.
Rachid also scheduled interviews with prominent scholars Marie Favereau and Timothy May and others whose names I do not know. It's a great subject and it has not been done. We in the West know nothing about the man who conquered Russia. I look forward to seeing the completed film.
Kazakhstan is a part of the world once ruled by Batu Khan, so it was an honor to be interviewed. The film is an explortion of Batu investigating the mystery of his father Jochi's death. As the story unfolds, the audience discovers Batu's life and deeds from the early days up to the role that Batu Khan played in placing a new branch of the imperial family on the Mongol throne. We discover his reasons for doing so. The Mongols are a lively group, earthy and human. We see the struggles for the throne. Skulduggery in high places is the theme.
Thnks also to the excellent crew, total professionals who arrived on time. This is a miracle in Southwest Florida.
A Talk for the American Center for Mongolian Studies
On November 13th at 8 A. M. EST, I gave a live talk about Batu Khan for the speaker series of the American Center for Mongolian Studies in Ulaan Baatur.
I explored Batu Khan's character, the man who became a kingmaker, rather than Supreme Khan. What led Batu Khan to create a plan with the Princess Sorghagtani to change the branch of the imperial house of the Mongol Empire? This was a momentous strategy that ultimately saved Europe from a Mongol invasion.
An able and talented grandson of Chinggis Khan, Batu chose to remain as the Khan of the Golden Horde, at the crossroads of transcontinental trade, rather than move into the civilized world and govern from the Mongol capital of Khara Khorum in Inner Mongolia. Why did he do this?
Tune in and find out. This is for the launch of my new book. See details on the Order Batu Khan page on this website.. The bookwill be available from Amazon and other book retailers.
I have posted the maps and illustrations on the Order Batu Khan page of this author website, as well as a mini-podcast of me reading an introduction not covered in the book. I will post the link to the talk at a later date, for those who wish to tune into the talk. It will be repeated on video at 8 PM. Afterward, it will be available on the ACMS YouTube Channel.
Thanks very much to the ACMS for the invitation. I am hoping to tell a fabulous story, a little entertainment in the time of the hea;thcare emergency.
Announcing a Young Reader Edition of Batu, Khan of the Golden Horde
The story of Batu, Khan of the Golden Horde, will soon be available in paperback, from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Indiebooks. This is the first book of my Silk Road Series: The Way Across the World Opens.
From his youth in the camp of his grandfather, Chinggis Khan, to his brilliant leadership in the conquest of Russia to his role as kingmaker of the Empire, this is the story of Batu Khan, the man who founded the Russian Khanate and used it as a base to invade Europe.
The former U. S. Ambassador to Mongolia Jonathan Addleton gave me the following quote for the Silk Road Series. "Diane Wolff writes well and convincingly, capturing the epic sweep of a fascinating if all too neglected history and presenting it in compelling fashion to a larger audience"
Available September 25th, 2020, this is a student edition. It is also suitable for teachers who are non-specialists, with illustrations available to those who email me: my Power Point presentations, including maps and illustrations of the principal players, and a list of teaching materials, including a YouTube film clip of the Eisenstein film of the hero of Russia, Alexander Nevsky.
At present, this is a workbook. I am making it available by popular request.
If you want to know why this is important for modern readers, a recent Wall Street Journal article claimed that Vladimir Putin, the ruler of Russia, is looking to Russia's Asian Past. To understand the present mindset of the current leader, one has to know the past. https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-turn-to-its-asian-past-1530889247
The former US Ambassador to Mongolia Jonathan Addleton attended the Mongol Cultural Conference at the Embassy of Mongolia in Washington, D. C. and was kind enough to tell me, "I like the way that you have divided the sweep of that history into several volumes rather than simply one or two."
AUTHOR TALK , AN OFFER HE COULDN'T REFUSE
I read from "An Offer He Couldn't Refuse", one of the books in my forthcoming Silk Road Series. at the Twelfth Annual Mongolian Studies Conference on February 10th, 2018 at the Embassy of Mongolia in Washington, D.C.
I introduced the audience to the man who saved Chinese civilization from the worst practices of the so-called barbarians who conquered North China.
This book is a meditation on how the man of letters changed the warfare of the greatest military genius in history. It is my portrait of Yeh-lu, Genghis Khan's Chinese chancellor, the greatest statesman of the Mongol Empire, When his fellow Confucian scholar-bureaucrats went to the South to serve under a Han emperor, Yeh-lu was the man who stayed behind and went into the service of Chinggis Khan, The Conqueror of North China. Yeh-lu became the man who saved Chinese civilization.
This is a big story, on an epic scale, of two men of different temperaments and backgrounds coming to understand one another in a unique situation. The man of letters allowed himself to be recruited into the government of the military man. It shows the moral force of civilization against the rule of The Conqueror and his military government, a government of conquest. This is a story for our time.
This work requires years of research of a difficult nature. I call it digging out truth with a teaspoon. Unfortunately, the government was shut down, so our group did not get to tour the Mongolia Archives at the Library of Congress. A great disappointment.
IN MEMORY OF MY MOTHER, THE LATE GREAT CATHIE G.
In honor of my mother, the late Cathie Grossman, I have published a work entitled "Essential Puree: The A to Z Guidebook."
This volume outlines a system for setting up and running a puree kitchen, together with family recipes for classic American comfort food. This is for persons with swallowing disorders.
Here is the website:
www.essentialpuree.com
Swirl Away!
A WEBINAR FOR THE NATIONAL FOUNDATION OF SWALLOWING DISORDERS
By invitation of the executive director of the National Foundation of Swallowing Disorders Elizabeth Lipton, I did my first ever live webinar of the Holiday Meal from beautiful Sonoma County. Even though fire fighters were getting the Northern California fires under control, conditions permitted us to video live on tape. I do this work in memory of my mother, the late great Cathie G.
I taught healthcare providers and caregivers and patients with swallowing disorders how to puree the Holiday Meal so that those with dysphagia could join family and friends at this time of the year, rather than being isolated from the social events of life.
I am working with a California team to launch Prosper Foods, a line of organic pureed foods. We hope to launch in 2019. Look for further announcements on the forthcoming Prosper Foods website and social media.