868 resistance and dissent: further reading Further Reading David C Conrad, Empires of Medieval West Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay (New York: Facts On File, 2005) Herbert Franke, “Factions and Rebellions.” In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of China, ed Brian Hook and Denis Twitchett (New York: Cambridge University Press, new edition 1991) Michael Frassetto, ed., The Year 1000: Religious and Social Response to the Turning of the First Millennium (New York: Palgrave, 2002) Ira M Lapidus, A History of Islamic Societies, 2nd ed (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2002) Gordon Leff, Heresy in the Later Middle Ages: The Relation of Heterodoxy to Dissent c 1250–c 1450 (Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 1967) Bernard Lewis, ed and trans., Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople, vols (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974) R I Moore, The Origins of European Dissent (New York: St Martin’s, 1977) Michael Mullet, Popular Culture and Popular Protest in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe (London: Croom Helm, 1987) D T Niane, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali, 2nd ed (New York: Longman, 2006) Gilbert Rozman, “Secret Societies.” In The Cambridge Encyclopedia of China, ed Brian Hook and Denis Twitchett (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991) Jeffrey Burton Russell, Dissent and Reform in the Early Middle Ages (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965) Jeffrey Burton Russell, Religious Dissent in the Middle Ages (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1971) Nathan Seppa, “Metropolitan Life on the Mississippi,” Washington Post (March 12, 1997) Available online URL: http://www washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march/12/cahokia.htm Downloaded on October 24, 2007 Hugh Thomas, Conquest: Montezuma, Cortés, and the Fall of Old Mexico (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993) David L Webster, The Fall of the Ancient Maya: Solving the Mystery of the Maya Collapse (London: Thames and Hudson, 2002) Philip Wilkinson, “Easter Island.” In his Time-Life Encyclopedia of Mysterious Places: The Life and Legends of Ancient Sites around the World (Alexandria, Va.: Time-Life Books, 1990) Bat Ye’or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam (Madison, N.J.: Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996) Bat Ye’or, The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam (Madison, N.J.: Farleigh Dickinson University Press, 1985) ▶ roads and bridges introduction Many medieval governments were caught between two needs when building roads and bridges One need was for swift, easy passage from one area to the next for government armies and law enforcement as well as for farmers who were bringing food to town and cities and merchants who were importing goods that enhanced the land’s economy The other need was for impeding invading forces Wars of conquest and looting were common in the medieval era, and good roads and bridges could mean quick movement of defense forces to confront attackers On the other hand, good roads and bridges could allow attacking forces to move quickly from a land’s borders to its capital Defending and destroying bridges were common tactics for slowing down enemies Balancing such needs was tricky business For instance, in medieval India one of the standards for judging a monarch’s merit in some kingdoms was how well he or she maintained the roads In western India, in particular, maintaining roads that merchants could use for transporting goods between inland cities and coastal trading posts was essential for maintaining a kingdom’s economic health Making wide roads with drainage so that rainwater ran off to the sides rather than puddling, as well as creating rest spots with shade trees and rest centers were part of a government’s everyday functions Local governments were often required to maintain rest areas in their jurisdictions Still, well-maintained roads were open to exploitation From southern India greedy monarchs led raids into the north to loot cities Muslim invaders from the northwest could race along roads to cities that they looted and burned, carrying away as slaves those they did not kill These wars of greed put pressure on Indian kingdoms to either heavily guard their international routes or turn inward and neglect maintenance of roads that made surprise attacks easy Elsewhere, many governments built roads to facilitate movement of goods as well as troops In China the capital of Xi’an had severe problems with supply of food in the early medieval era, only managing to maintain a steady food supply by building and maintaining roads that brought goods quickly from harvest in distant parts of the empire to the capital These roads almost always involved several bridges, and it was routine in Chinese wars for defenders to destroy the bridges and then to defend the river to try to thwart the enemy’s attempts to cross the river in boats or on rafts In Japan most long roads on Honshu had bridges, but in some places, rivers had to be forded, an undertaking made dangerous by earthquakes and floods This may have been the main reason why the Nakasendo road was made; although it was less traveled than the Tokaido route to the east, it offered travelers an alternative route for traveling north-south that avoided fording rivers In China and Japan merchants were officially regarded with contempt, because they were regarded as parasites who produced nothing themselves while making a profit from the work of others Even so, governments usually coveted the exotic goods that merchants could bring into the country In the Islamic world the attitude was very different Mohammad