Customer Reviews

Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the World

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3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is quite a good book overall. It is easy to follow and understand. If you are looking for a book on Genghis Khan's early life, I would not suggest this book, though. It basically starts at Genghis's conquering. The author talks more about the Khwarazm empire then I think is necessary, but it is interesting in its own way. Also, the book dedicates more on Ogodei than the title suggests.

This book is very informative of the battles and reasons for the battles of Genghis Khan. If you are looking for a book on the military campaigns of Genghis Khan, I would definately suggest this book.

Genghis Khan was more than a punchlune and formula villain. After spending his first forty years uniting the Mongols, he swept across Asia, toppling large portions of Chinese and Muslim civilization. His followers even invaded Europe and almost reached Italy. He built an empire that allowed trade across Asia at unprecedented levels, with concurrent exchanges of art, philosophy and idea. Yet despite these achievements, modern historians generally give him short shift. Supposedly "World History" classes barely mention Genghis Khan's life. It's as if, from our pedestal atop millenia of modern civilization, we're still a bit frightened by the fact that this horsemilk-drinking barbarian almost overran the entirety of the world's major civilizations.

Leo de Hartog tries to fill this gap with a popular history. Short but thorough, he starts off with an appropriately brief ten-page look at life among the Mongol tribes. Then we learn the meager facts about Genghis Khan's early life, and his fight to unite the Mongols. The bulk of the book covers the invasions of China and Persia, followed by Ogodei's rein and the attack through Russia into central Europe. Hartog spends considerable space of Genghis Khan's personality, analyzing what made him effective as a leader.

On the whole, Hartog has written an effective history. He's thorough, covering the invasions in great detail. He openly admits that parts of the story are not backed by good historical sources, and that ambiguity exists. At the micro level, however, "Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the World" is fairly mediocre. The translator has created sentences that are too words and awkward, word choice is sometimes off, and long lists of people and cities are presented without adequate explanation. Also, I would imagine that most Americans, like myself, know fairly little about the geography of Asia. The small maps at the back aren't enough to make up for this shortfall.

Read this book. I read the hardcover in case you are wondering why I am commenting on a book that is not out yet. I got this book out of a whim, not really knowing much about Genghis Khan. Wow, what a story. Could not put it down. Reads like a real nail-biting novel. They should definitely make a move from this book.

I was excited to learn more about Genghis Khan after seeing a museum exhibit dedicated to his life. I realize that written records pertaining to events in the 1200's are pretty poor. That's no excuse for this tome. I'll let the author speak for himself. Here is part of a paragraph on page 21:

"...During the battle against the Taijut, Genghis Khan was wounded so severely in a jugular vein that he lost consciousness. Thanks to the great sacrifices of his loyal companion Jelme, he survived. Genghis Khan's horse, which he had been particularly fond of, was killed by an arrow. It was a chestnut horse with a white muzzle and looked like the one on which he had fled as a youth when he escaped from imprisonment by the Taijut."

Come on. Who edited this? How does this pass for information?

1) How was he wounded? What were the sacrifices his attendant made? Does the author not think these things might be interesting?

2) Thanks for telling me all about the horse - now that it is dead. Nice run-on sentence, too.

Now I am going shopping for a book which is more readable and less frustrating.

why the Eurasian looking/featured artistic rendition on the cover of this newer edition? maybe to sell more books to white people, lol (rated book as such because i'm ordering used hard cover copy- old version- and believe the reviews that it's good). Maybe Genghis Khan's related distant descendant Tamerlane- great conqueror/leader in his own right- or his descendant, Babur (leader of Mughal Empire in India, who built Taj Mahal for his favorite wife who died young) more resembled the 'watered down' Eurasian looking image (meant to be of Genghis Khan, i'm assuming) on this book cover (curious where it came from) but for a more accurate view of what the man (Genghis Khan) looked like, i think the popular ('classic Genghis') image of the man is more accurate (used on the cover of the older edition of this book, for the paperback edition? i think). Don't worry about my spouting off, you white (or Eurasian :) looking guys are still getting all the girls (i.e. Asian, etc.) here (e.g U.S. and dominating in Western popularized Media culture- Brad Pitt, Justin Timberlake, etc.)

With "Genghis Khan- Conqueror of the world", the readers can have an overview of the Mongol Empire, both history of conquest and history of administration mechanism in the conquered lands after the death of Temujin.The author showed a painstaking effort in making relevance to quite many valuable historical materials.However, it is more interesting if the book is written more deeply in some respects.

Genghis Khan's armies breached the Great Wall of China, captured Beijing, and crushed all resistance in Afghanistan, Persia and Southern Russia by ruthless massacres and pillage. His armies also invaded Europe. Yet until now no historically reliable book about him has been written for a popular audience. This book analyses how Genghis Khan was able to unite the primitive Mongol tribes of the harsh Siberian steppes and organize them into highly mobile and disciplined troops. It shows how he created a regime so strong that his son was able to extend the conquests after the death of Genghis Khan himself. Leo de Hartog pays particular attention to the little-studied Mongol invasion of Europe and explores Europe's contacts with the great Khan.

Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the Word was better than I expected. Thank you for quick service and a quality book.

Some chapters don't really deal with the wars but culture which is irrelevant. The prelude to the war with China and Khwarezm was interesting, but description was a little too tedious. Keeps repeating how he ravaged the cities. Interesting notes about the Christian hero Prester John.