Europe`s Steppe Frontier, 1500-1800

In Europe's Steppe Frontier, acclaimed historian Wm H. McNeill analyzes the process whereby the thinly occupied grasslands of southeastern Europe were incorporated into the bodies-social of three great empires: the Ottoman, the Austrian & the Russian. McNeill benefits from a New World detachment from the bitter nationality quarrels of the late 19th & early 20th century which inspired but also blinded most of the historians of the region. Moreover, the unique institutional adjustments southeastern Europeans made to the frontier challenge cast indirect light upon the peculiarities of the North American frontier experience.IntroductionOttoman AdvanceTime of TroublesThe Victory of Bureaucratic EmpireThe Closure of the FrontierBibliographical EssayIndex