Customer Reviews

In the Empire of Genghis Khan: An Amazing Odyssey Through the Lands of the Most Feared Conquerors in History

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An award-winning travel writer decides to make a trip on horseback across one of the most unknown and unforgiving terrains - to Westerners - on the planet and then to write about his journey. We have certain expectations. We'll learn something about the people and their customs. The scenery and landscape will be revealed as novel and inspiring. The region's history will be uncovered. Or perhaps the book will be filled with adventures and mishaps that make for good story-telling.

"In the Empire of Genghis Khan" is made up all those elements, and author Stanley Stewart handles most of them especially well. Others, not so well.

Stewart begins with a crossing from Istanbul to the western edge of Mongolia on slightly modern conveyances. He intends to roughly follow the path of a 13th century missionary, Friar William of Rubruck. These first legs of the journey are indeed characterized by situations and characters whose portrayals remind a reader of a Joseph Conrad novel.

Once in Mongolia, Stewart saddles up his first horse. He uses the Friar's account as a foil for contrasting with his own 20th century encounters. But the author is most successful when describing the Mongolian countryside, which has changed little from that earlier exploration. In this Stewart's language is evocative and crisp, capable of creating a truly unique atmospheric texture.

Otherwise, Stewart writes in a slight but persistent mocking tone. This sardonic tinge spares only the landscape, the occasional attractive woman, and the author's own thoughts. Mongolian customs and most Mongolians are treated with more than a trace of condescension. Even Mongolian hospitality which seems to the reader engaging and unfailing is treated with subtle derision. And Stewart proves to be an equal-opportunity derider, mocking Russians in a way that calls up the usual stereotypes. Some of this Stewart pulls off in humorous fashion. But the incessant mockery leaves the reader questioning the author's ability to truly appreciate a different way of life. It's an odd weakness - or choice - for a serial traveler.

As he recounts his journey, Stewart educates us on Mongolian history. The Genghis Kahn story is integrated with the travelogue in effective fashion. As for more recent history, the author provides only the minimally requisite facts until near the end. Then in the penultimate chapter he unloads the details of the Soviet occupation and eventual withdrawal in somewhat textbook fashion. Although fascinating enough in its interplay with aspects of Mongolian character, the chapter seems perfunctory and of little real interest to Stewart.

But these failures of nuance are continually redeemed by Stewart's descriptions when actually on horseback, seemingly alone with the elements. Here Stewart seems to have an inexhaustible supply of on-target metaphors. Crystalline sentences convey a real sense of why travel to new reaches is always compelling, even when vicarious.

Since 1980, the Thomas Cook Travel Book of the Year has been considered the travel writing equivalent to the Booker or Pulitzer, and this Stewart's second book to win the prestigious honor. The book's framework is Stewart's plan to travel from roughly the western edge of the 12th-century Mongol empire to the mountain in eastern Mongolia where Ghengis Khan was buried. The first quarter of the book covers his trip from Istanbul to the the Crimea on a decrepit Russian cargo ship, across Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan by train, and by air into Mongolia. This is all warmup for Mongolia itself, as he intersperses the history Mongol conquest with that of a proselytizing mission made by a Franciscan monk to the Mongol court in 1253, as well as his own encounters with a gun-toting teenage Russian smuggler, a Dickens-loving Russian procuress, and various lonely souls.

Once in Mongolia, Stewart switches to horseback, as his plan is to ride over 1,000 miles across its breadth. With a succession of translators, guides, and horses, he find that the happiest and healthiest Mongols live virtually the same nomadic lives as their ancestors of five centuries ago. Even accounting for a certain degree of romanticization of the countryside, it's hard to find anything redeeming about the settlements he passes through. Virtually all are crumbling towns with few permanent residents beyond a mayor, policeman, and a few other caretakers. These regional centers are ugly concrete legacies of the Soviet era which have been largely abandoned since the end of Soviet aid and seem destined to return to the earth.

Out in the countryside, Stewart meets innumerable nomads, takes part in a wedding, visits a shaman, goes to a festival which includes horse-races and wrestling, and generally finds the people to be friendly and curious. Of course the landscape features prominently, and people with horses may find themselves yearning to across the world to ride next to history's most famous horsemen. The real pleasure of the book is that while Stewart does all these fascinating things, he writes about it in simply stunning prose liberally sprinkled with humor and heart. [...]

It's a fascinating and funny book, and one that should read by anyone with an interest in other cultures. One interesting footnote: in discussing the book, several professional reviews have said that the Mongolian nomadic life will likely "die out in our lifetime." This is directly opposite to what Stewart describes! He is very clear that the nomadic lifestyle is the only one which makes much sense in a country like Mongolia, and that the vast majority of people prefer not to live in urban areas!

I found this to be a great book that kept me reading late into the night. There is a bit of sarcasm at times, but I didn't find it enough to take away from the book. He portrays the Mongolians as people; with all the quirks that that word entails. He brought to life a country shrouded in mystery, and content with their way of life.

The more I read this book the more I feel humiliated as a Mongolian who was born in the countryside and grew up among these people. This book is too far from the truth. Of course, I admire the author's courage to travel across Mongolia by horse, but the difficulties he had while traveling and his negative attitude can not be blamed on country people with big hearts who tried to be kind and to show their warmest hospitality in every way they could. Indeed they were responsible for his survival many times. His description of people was racist and portrayed them as primitive and ugly. As a Mongolian, I am extremely offended by his views and opinions of my country and I definitely would not recommend this book as a valid picture of Mongolia and its people. However, I thought his description of the countryside and history was very accurate and complimentary.

I am amazed by Mr. Stewarts ability to write. He can convey the emotions and feeling of a place with amazing clarity and I found myself really feeling like I was there.

The trip itself is quite an epic, a thousand miles by mostly horseback through a culture completely different than anything we are used to. it also comes at a really interesting time in the countries history when they have thrown off Communism and are deep in the throws of trying to make something else work.

At its best the book is full of delightful descriptions of faraway places and unique locations, the people are described so well that you can picture them sitting next to you and their conversations relate items of real significance. Learning from the people what the fall of Communism has done to their economy makes for fascinating reading. Also learning about the history of the Monks and the world of Genghis Khan was fascinating.

At its worst, the book doesn't cut the Mongolian people very much slack. They have decided not to live in cities but rather to live in tents (gers), rather than celebrate a thousand-year-old tradition and show what good it brings and how it enriches the lives of the people who live it, mostly you get the feeling that it is inferior and the people who live it ought to switch to something better.

It also portrays Communism and the Russian government in a completely evil light, no effort is made to record areas where the life of the Mongolian has gotten better thanks to Communism, although brief mention of government bldgs, schools and acting troups is mentioned. Yet how poorly the people fared and when the system didn't work is vividly brought out into the open.

This is also about travelling over some of the most lonely isolated terrain in the world, yet little time is spent discussing the travel itself. How did they get food when they were not in a Ger, what did it feel like to spend weeks in the saddle from morning to night, How did the clothing feel, etc. Very little was spent on the actual travel itself, the book focuses primarily on the people that were met.

But these are minor points, its is a good book to learn about the culture of Mongolia and what has been happening to the common man since the fall of Communism and I found myself reading all the way through without being bored.

I couldn't put this book down, i'll give it that much.

But I didn't always like it.

While the narration was interesting and fairly well written, I felt a rather pretentious, and quite condescending air as he described the mongolians he met and the way in which they lived.

The descriptions of the landscape were beautiful, but it didn't hide the fact that I felt Stewart was narrating a 4 star resort tour of the country instead of what was supposed to be a wilderness trek.

None the less, I found it hard to put it down, maybe because the historial bits were so intruiging.

An insult to all Mongolians. In my Mongolian extensive travels I never saw Mongolians as this writer describes them. Instead I found the Mongolians to be kind, considerate and a joy to meet. This author needs to rethink his writing motives. Just to be humerous he degrades fine poeple. Not a book I would recomend.

i'm currently planning a trip to mongolia and this book has inspired me further. the photos are fantastic, especially the one of the eagle hunter.

the author likes his history and explains the goings on at the court of the khan in the 12th century in a way that brings it to life. the characters he meets during his journey are very sympathetically rendered and very real-sounding. and he is self-deprecating in a british way so there is some great humour.

highly recommended if you're planning a trip to mongolia as it describes all the weirdness you will probably encounter realistically.

I add my typing to that of other reviewers who found this book condescending, the humor sarcastic and cheap. And - unlike everyone else -I believe Stewart is guilty of over-writing (see below). I actually think a travelogue is more about the author than it is about the place to which the author has been. I don't know if Bruce Chatwin was a nice person, but I think if he had written a book about a voyage to Fargo it would be a joy to read. Same goes for Robert Byron, Eric Newby, and Ryszard Kapuscinski (though R.K. was so much more than a "travel writer"). Some Amazon reviewers have disparaged Tom Bissell, but I had a lovely time visiting with his prose in Chasing the Sea. On the other hand, Stanley Stewart may be a charming man in person, but he's kind of a pill on this ride through Mongolia on horseback.

As others have commented he demeans his gracious hosts on numerous occasions. If you are going to spend the night in a Ger in wolf-country, you're going to have to expect your hosts to keep the sheep close to the yurt- and isn't it just too bad that you mussed your boots with sheep-poop in the morning?

At one point he demurs from riding on a camel. But instead of a matter-of-fact description of ill-tempered beasts, it comes across more as name dropping. Sort of: Camels? Of course I've ridden on camels. If you'd ridden on camels the way I've ridden on camels, you'd know better than to even consider riding on a camel!

Toward the end of the book, S.S. blusters his way out of paying a fine to an apparently corrupt official - and he's so proud of himself! Contrast that with Rory Stewart (no relation?) bluffing his way out of being murdered by bad actors in Afghanistan [The places in between] by claiming to be Indonesian instead of a Brit.

I did enjoy S.S's treatment of the history, somehow he handles events quite well when he is not personally involved in them.

On the writing, this is getting so long I'll just give one example: "Pegged like an unruly sheet by a line of telegraph poles, the prairie flapped away into unfathomable distances". Isn't that just a little too clever by half? I rather have the impression that he seeks more to impress than to convey the truth with his words.

So, I do not say avoid the book. There's a lot to learn here, I did finish it after all. But be forewarned: this is Mongolia through the prism of Stanley Stewart (that's the kind of thing he might write).

I picked this book up browsing in my hospital bookshop while on call on a lazy saturday. On the back cover I discovered it had been recently translated into Italian (2004)from English and decided to buy it. From the moment I opened it, I couldn't put it down, I read it on work, at home, and also while driving the car (!). I laughed by myself on more than one occasion and looked around for someone to laugh with me. Naturally, I will probably never go to Mongolia, or have the guts to take the trip the author went through, but, somehow I felt that I was there. That I met the people he describes.

One interesting point of the book is its inspiration from the trip of William of Rubruc eight centuries ago. This short miliary description of the mongol world of those times has the same off hand descriptions of the mongol people and customs we find in Mr. Stewart's book. However, no one accused William of beeing "politically not correct" or "sarcastic". Often it is not necessary to have an empathic vision of a different culture to describe it to people that share our cultural standards.

Mr. Stewart's book is instructive and definitely fun to read, but above all it "takes you along" the whole time, which is really what readers that don't have the opportunities to travel as much as they would like, really want.