Customer Reviews

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire

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Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World was a fascinating look at the man who conquered Asia and commanded an empire unlike any that had gone before. Weatherford continues his analysis in The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire.

When hearing the name of the 13th century conqueror, Genghis Khan, one doesn't normally think of his daughters as the reason his empire continued and expanded. Khan's four sons were basically worthless preferring to drink, fight and engage in other dissolute behavior. Khan's daughters are the ones that saved his legacy. History is unclear on much of their lives and even then number of daughters he had.

Khan, with exquisite strategy, married his daughters off to rulers along the Silk Road. He then sent their husbands off to war leaving the daughter to rule. With their power, they were able to strengthen his empire through education, religion, and trade; making the Silk Road and the surrounding territories a cohesive unit. The daughters were strong warriors and from their female descendants the Mongolian empire flourished.

If you have a liking or passion for Khan and his strategy, the history of the Mongolian Empire or women who changed history, this book will be at the top of your to-be-read pile. I would say I have a "middling" knowledge of Mongolia past and present, and the book could be a little confusing with the wealth of information, strange names and places etc. I'm hoping to go to Mongolia in the fall and my knowledge of the area through this historic telling as well as his first book certainly has increased my appreciation of how that area of the world was formed!

This book is incredibly rich in detail and history. Weatherford writes a fascinating story. It is well-researched and documented, but most importantly it is readable and not a dry rendition of the facts that make up history. Weatherford states that much about the Queens is unknown or lost to history's variances, but he does a wonderful job of linking the information that exists in a logical and sensible manner which makes sense in the context of Khan and his goals. You get a real sense of how these women changed history and took their father's legacy to the next level.

After reading Jack Weatherford's "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" I went and pre-ordered this book - and I wasn't disappointed.

The author tells a gripping story of lost history and the role the female heirs of Genghis Khan played in his Empire. While the Great Kahn was out conquering the world, his wives and daughters managed his empire, created bureaucracies, public projects and kept trade relationships alive. In a stroke of genius, Genghis Kahn married his daughters to men who ruled strategic points along the famous Silk Road which not only lent him eyes and ears in those important locations, but also established his presence even though he wasn't physically there.

These daughters weren't the timid kind; they were strong, independent women who inherited their father's political cunningness and warrior spirit. However, after Genghis Khan's death these strong women, daughters, sisters and sisters-in-law began a power struggle which lasted for centuries and eventually almost destroyed the Empire their father has built.

The book tells an astonishing tale of a once world wide Empire being torn apart by inept rulers, sibling rivalry and incompetent leaders (something I'm sure most of us can relate to) pitting mothers against sons and brothers against sisters.

The book ends with the astonishing tale of Queen Mandhuhai the Wise who reunited the Mongols while fighting the Chinese Ming dynasty and the Muslim warlords. Her successful campaigns, which she waged even when pregnant, promoted China to erect the Great Wall and preserved peace for her children and the nation.

Jack Weatherford writes in a style which transcends dry facts and dates, he brings the stories to life while drawing lines between events and people. The author realizes the names are difficult for the English speaking natives and reminds the reader every now and then who a character is when he/she reappears several pages later, which is fantastic. The information is presented in a manner which is not only linear, but also follows a certain path - which makes this book easy to comprehend and a joy to read.

The other reviewers here on Amazon have described very well the surprising histories, surprising to me at least, of the Mongol Queens, who preserved and expanded the Mongol Empire after the death of Genghis Khan. Weatherford's history is fascinating and beautifully written.

This small sample will suffice:

"In the spring, thousands of white cranes gather to mate along the Orkhon River north of Karakorum where clusters of wild irises bloom, while chunks of ice still float in the river. The nearby ruins of eighth-century Turkic cities evidence a casual abandon as though the owners might return at any moment. When thirteenth-century Mongols built their capital, caravans followed the river bearing gifts of Siberian furs, Indian sapphires, German silver, Damascus steel, Persia turquoise, Tibetan scriptures, and Chinese silk. Yet, today the area is as pristine and quiet as though none of this ever happened."

Weatherford's book carries forward the histories so well told in his 2004 Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. He is a teacher; his philosophy of teaching appears on his college's website:

"In teaching, I try to teach my students to live anthropology. I want them to use it every day of their lives in making sense of the world around them. I want them to understand different theories because sometimes one theory helps to explain one problem, but another theory illuminates another one. Theories are tools. They are neither right nor wrong; they are merely useful in a particular situation or not useful. Sometimes we need a hammer and sometimes a screwdriver. I want my students to have a large tool kit with many theories, ideas, and skills at their disposal as they face new challenges and situations which I never even imagined."

Reading this fine history makes the reader "live" the period of these daughters of the great Khan, a remarkable and pleasurable experience.

Robert C. Ross 2010

I wholly agree with everything the reviewers have already expounded on, it is marvelously written, easy to read and understand.
It is very eye opening how in a span of 300 years Genghis khan's descendants managed to completely obliterate everything he stood for , especially regarding to women's hallowed position of power.
My favorite tidbit is the mention of the old men, from the procession of clans at that very first grand meeting clapping their magical rocks together to control the weather, just enough sun and just enough rain for the occasion!

It has to be difficult to write a historical book for lay people. We are looking for a story and not the random messiness of life. Jack Weatherford manages to keep a focused eye on the women in Genghis Khan family and he manages to tie things together at the end as if this was a novel with a beginning, middle, and end. I read two-thirds of this book on one rainy day.

Some details are as amazing as history can be. Genghis Khan tells his daughters at their arranged marriages that the couple must be two shafts of one cart. "If a two shaft cart breaks the second shaft, the ox cannot pull it." He also says, "whoever can keep a house in order, can keep a territory in order." The women ran the regions that they were assigned and their husbands were drawn off to be the Khan's generals. The sons-in-law had the honor of marrying into the Khan's family, but they were taken away from their seat of power into the army. Power was left in the daughters' hands. The sexual politics are also a bit different in this time period when women had more autonomy.

Like any political and battle-filled novel, this one has its villains. After the Khan dies, his sons set about destroying the Mongol nation in their lust for power. The daughters-in-law destroy what the sons don't destroy in their attempts to secure their sons' inheritance. Some of the ways that they murder their enemies is described and it is horrendous. Even with all that, the Mongols do become rulers of China for a time before they are kicked back out to the steppes.

Weatherford brings us our "happy" ending by bringing back to life one of the last great Queens of Genghis Khan's line. When her husband is murdered, she has the choice of marrying the war leader or taking the tribe back to china to be vassals. She decides to rule instead.

As it happens, one of my roommates at LSU was Mongolian. I wish that I could press this book into her hands now. I think that she would love it.

I believe the best thing about this book is that it is written in plain english. I've read some history books that put me to sleep before I had gotten even a few pages into a new chapter. I was two-thirds (2/3) of the way finished with this book the first night and done with it the next.

It's also an excellent history about the empowerment of women in ancient times (short-lived though it may be).

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens is an engaging read. The author seems to have a feeling for the land itself and how the nomadic Mongols were able to survive in such harsh environs. My disappointment is that very little description was given to just what was the "Eternal Blue Sky" that inspired Ghenghis Khan to go about his conquering. The word 'Tengri' was mentioned only once and it is my understanding from other reading that these were the collective sky gods. The subject of shamanism was never brought up although to his credit the author does describe some of the respect for nature and prayers and rituals used, especially in portraying the character of Queen Manduhai.

Genghis Khan and his Mongol cavalry conquered Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe and only the great Khan's death in 1227 A. D. saved Western Europe. Here is the inside story of the family struggle between his daughters and his daughters-in-law about the succession of power and how Queen Manduhai successfully leads the Mongol army that provoked the building of the Great Wall of China. It is about time she was recognized for being a bloody and cool lady."

Ordinarily, I would put a reaction to another reviewer in a comment after his/her post. But I think that the point I am making is important enough to have its own post. The information I am putting here was taken from Weatherford's Acknowledgments at the end of the book. When younger, I usually ignored introductions, forewords, prefaces, and acknowledgements. It is a severe mistake to do so. Surprisingly important information is often contained within these sections of the book.
I have to say that my first reaction to the pen and brush drawings was delight. I was impressed with the apparent simplicity, the grace, and the essence and skill of the drawings--so much so, that I have thought about taking them from the book and putting them in simple frames to hang side by side. I have never felt this way before about an illustration.
Afer reading the acknowledgments, I am even more impressed! They are 'name-drawings!' That is, the brushstrokes not only capture the essence of the queen, but her name is also included, coded, into the drawing. Now that is remarkable! And it makes the illustration even more important and impressive. The cover is, to me, appropriate, and well done. Since the book is about the Mongol Queens, it depicts perhaps the greatest/most powerful/effective of them. She has abandoned her headdress and put on a warrior's helmet. She is horseback, as a warrior had to be, and she is in the act of firing her arrow. It says so many important things about her.
I don't want to insult the reviewer who was disappointed in the drawings, but I surely think that these are superb and support the book beautifully. I liked the drawings anyway a lot!) but reading the acknowledgements gave me great appreciation of them.

If you are a layperson, like myself, just getting into the rich and amazing history of the Mongol people, this is an absolute MUST read. This is the side of Chinggis Khan you probably never see in other books.

The title is something of a misnomer. All that's left of the secret history of the Mongol queens is one line: "Let us reward our female offspring." What the author has done is an amazing and inspiring job of piecing together what would probably have been in the secret history had it survived. And, what an amazing story it is! It is the story of Hoelun and Borte, the mother and wife of the Great Khan, who advised, managed, and used their political influence to help him build the largest empire in human history. It's the story of Alaqai, Al-Altun and Chechiyegen, his daughters, who helped run, keep the peace and hold together the empire he built; at least until his sons decided to tear it apart, violating every law and social more of the Mongol people and Chenggis Khan in the process. And, even in this disintegrating mass, granddaughters and great granddaughters were assisting their husbands, clans, or themselves in an effort to reunite or reconquer their Mongol people, and re-establish his empire. It is the story of Sorkhokatani, the Christian Mongol queen who came close to restoring Mongol unity, only to destroy it all in a quest for vengeance. It is the story of Khutulun, the much fabled Mongol warrior princess, who vowed never to marry any man who could not best her in wrestling. And, finally, it is the story of Manduhai the Wise, the greatest queen of them all! A woman who came from nothing and who was never expected to amount to much; who, at the ripe old age of twenty-two, stepped up to become queen and took as her husband and Khan, a sickly seven year old boy and turn him into probably the second greatest Khan the Mongols ever produced. And she did this with no wealth, no army and supporters ready to bolt at the earliest opportunity, and only her own wits and determination to guide her. And, in the space of less than twenty years, she rebuilt the nation Chenggis' sons had lost, and his grandsons had never been able to reacquire.

And that brings me to my one criticism of this fascinating book: It's too short. There is so much here, and the story of these queens, princesses and pretenders is so fascinating, you can't help but want to hear more. In many of the books I've read, they mention Hoelun and Borte, for instance, advising Chenggis during his ascent and in maintaining peace between his otherwise warring Mongol tribes. Nowhere else have I seen it explicitly laid out. What they said, how they helped, what they did. This is a collection of the some of the most fascinating and amazing women in history, and ones you've probably never heard of. Each of these women deserves their own book. You can't help but want more. Hopefully, the author, Jack Weatherford, will take that as a hint!

I bought this book on pre-order and waited PATIENTLY through a couple delays. I am extremely happy I did. You will wish you'd bought it sooner! Mr. Weatherford has written this book for the layperson, making it an easy read, but he has done it with more than a glancing nod to the scholarship. It is probably as detailed and accurate as one can get given the problems of reconstructing records which were destroyed, heavily edited or omitted altogether. I'm sure there's a story in everything he had to do to piece together what he got to write this, but even so, this is not a sketch of a group of women, this is a full on history replete with blank spaces waiting to be discovered and filled in. This is one history you will not be able to put down or be satisfied enough not to want more.