The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization.

Vastly more progressive than his European or Asian counterparts, Genghis Khan abolished torture, granted universal religious freedom, and smashed feudal systems of aristocratic privilege. From the story of his rise through the tribal culture to the explosion of civilization that the Mongol Empire unleashed, this brilliant work of revisionist history is nothing less than the epic story of how the modern world was made.

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Listening Length	14 hours and 20 minutes
Author	Jack Weatherford
Narrator	Jack Weatherford, Jonathan Davis
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	February 16, 2010
Publisher	Audible Studios
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B0038NLWQ2
Best Sellers Rank	#1,013 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #2 in Asian History (Audible Books & Originals) #2 in Medieval European History #2 in Historical Asian Biographies (Books)

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Top reviews from the United States

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David C.

Interesting but flawed

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2018

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I was very excited for this book and the ambitiousness of its scope, but found myself underwhelmed. It's entertaining and educational, I found myself wanting more in multiple respects. More details, more evidence, more expansive coverage.

The book can't quite seem to decide what it wants to be. Is it a thesis of how the Mongol empire provided foundational technologies and practices of the modern age? Is it a biography of Genghis Khan? Is it a history of the Mongol empire? It turns out to be a haphazard mix of all three, with major shortcomings on all fronts.

As a broader anthropological thesis about the impact of Genghis Khan, Weatherford makes a very compelling case that the Mongol empire contained some then-innovative ASPECTS of modern ideals (e.g. religious tolerance, meritocracy, globalization of commerce, public schooling, paper currency, among others). He convincingly argues that the Mongols spread good ideas from one region of the empire to another, and combined those ideas in novel ways. He doesn't do a very good job of arguing that these innovations formed the basis of the modernity, spread into the broader world, and continued into today. Much of his focus is also on developments after the death of Genghis, particularly on Kubalai. While this makes sense from a historical narrative perspective, it's harder to tie the achievements of Kubalai back to Genghis, when the former took power 33 years after the latter's death, following the reign of three other Great Khans. Weatherford also mostly ignores developments in the other Khan lineages upon Kubalai taking the (disputed) title of Great Khan. He makes some ambitious and expansive claims, but doesn't provide compelling evidence. A few that caught my eyes are that Mongol culture was a foundational precursor to the European Renaissance or that the Nazi's blitzkrieg strategy was based on the study of Mongolian battle tactics. He could well be right, but I wasn't convinced of his conclusions on the basis of the evidence he presented.

As a biography, I didn't get much of a feel for Genghis Khan man outside of his tactical brilliance and shrewdness for exploiting public sentiment. I felt I had a much better sense of the character of Ogodei and Kubalai Khan than Genghis himself. Granted, much of that is probably due to lack of good contemporaneous primary sources due to historical reasons, and Weatherford seems to feel that the main source of truth is The Secret History of the Mongols, a history written either late in Temujin's life or shortly after his death. But much of the Secret History seems like after the fact mythmaking, such as when it claims that Temujin was born with a blood clot in his fist, portending great leadership. Broadly there's a lot of projection and conjecture about how he must have felt and thought. For example Weatherford sometimes posits that perhaps Khan was just trying to protect his family, his tribe, and his way of life, rather than conquer the known world. I don't know. Given the lack of good primary sources, I'd rather he leaned more on secondary sources with the necessary qualifications, or kept it more concise and stuck to the facts. As is, the biographical portions awkwardly straddles the line between idle conjecture and dry "and then this happened".

Finally as far as the broader Mongol empire is concerned, the focus is surprisingly narrow and cursory on the broader conquest. It has a pretty good discussion of broader strategy, tactics, and specific applications, but Weatherford mostly focuses on a couple campaigns (European campaigns of Ogodei Khan, Kubalai's campaigns into Sung China, and Genghis' campaigns in Mongolia, against the Jurched, and against the Khwarizm). Meanwhile he'll casually drop "And by this point the Mongols had dominion over Korea" without explaining how the Mongols adapted their steppe calvary tactics to the mountains and monsoons of Korea, while claiming the Mongols were stopped cold going out of their steppe comfort zone into the tropics of southern India or the forests of Western Europe. He sets up an epic conflict in Egypt an army of with former slav slaves, but kind of cursorily refers to it while suddenly jumping 20 years in to the future before jumping back. And as stated above, he has a pretty heavy focus on Kubalai, only briefly touching on the Ilkhanate in Persia and the Golden Horde in Eastern Europe.

In all, I enjoyed the book and I'm not swayed by other criticism I've seen about whitewashing the character of a despot. I appreciate Weatherford trying to bring more nuance to a much caricatured man and culture. But couldn't help but think that the book is less than the sum of its parts, and could have been much more.

201 people found this helpful

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todd french

Ghengis Khan; More Important than you probably thought

Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2018

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Totally changed my perception of geopolitics-really! This book, thoroughly researched, blasts the myths surrounding Ghenghis Khan and demonstrates his wisdom and courage as a leader. Perhaps more importantly, it contributes invaluable knowledge about the role of the Mongols in reshaping the world to forge trade routes, developing societies where many religions coexisted peacefully and exploding many of our prior myths about the savagery of the Mongol Horde. One of the most fascinating books on history I have read.

60 people found this helpful

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Beyond "MASTER-PIECE" Work- Reshapes "Image" Genghis Khan As More A Unifier/Innovator...

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2018

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This is a "beyond" MASTER-PIECE work not only on Genghis Khan, but on whole array of different subjects. This is simply evidenced by the "authors" stating that the entire local region, in what is today Mongolia, where Genghis was born and started his empire was sealed from outside visitation after his death and maintained that way by Chinese-Soviet era up to Mongolian Independence. A reader can take-away, family relations, alliance formation, trade, economics, strategy, and even engineering... that Genghis "mastered" and "assimilated" from various nations and cultures he conquered. Genghis expected not only his "warriors" and own "cultural" subjects to "contribute" to his Empire, but also those nations' citizens he assimilated and protected as well to the "greater" good of the Mogul Empire!

Much, as the author points out, of the inner workings of Genghis "court" and family are still a mystery today, but he must have had some very simply remembered "unifying-underlying" creed/credo/method he not only rallied and inspired the "disparate" tribes, and nations of his vast Empire with, and made them "aware' that they were part of something "larger" than themselves and despite differences in race, creed , and religion , part of one "cohesive" Nation.

That being stated, it reminds me of article in “VFW Magazine ~ September 2018 ~ War Horses for Veterans Single Issue Magazine – 2018” by VFW Staff (Author) [at Amazon.com web-address: https://www.amazon.com/Magazine-September-2018-Horses-Veterans/dp/B07H3CFJ5Z/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1536741446&sr=8-2&keywords=vfw+magazine+2018 ] about “veteran’s values” on page number-14 of "hard copy" version. Below is quoted a list of the VFW recommended "veterans’ values":

“1. I am an American Veteran.
2. I proudly served my country.
3. I live the values I learned in the military.
4. I continue to serve my community, my country, and my fellow veterans.
5. I maintain my physical and physical discipline.
6. I continue to lead and improve.
7. I make a difference.
8. I honor and remember my fallen comrades.”

Perhaps like Genghis Kahn, whom the author more than makes the point of, gets’ not only a very bad “historical “reputation, but a “huge” misunderstanding of his contributions made to the advancement of ALL, up to, and including, the modern era! PERHAPS, like the VFW and other Veterans Service Organizations (VSO’s), etc… Genghis had some simple “credo” such as the US VFW “proposed” veteran’s creed, for not only a new "generation" of combat veterans, but their forebears of all major US Conflicts- as well!

Not too long-ago, as a Wounded Warrior, whom went to Law School- minus both legs- and got themselves elected to the US Congress has put it "we must own our problems!" Think this individuals personal story, of overcoming adversity, as well as their "credo” are relevant to not only other "wounded warriors" but the entire Nation of the United States of America, or otherwise- perhaps, the "greatest nation on earth" might simply cease to be one day.... ???? Furthermore, I remember a story another veteran- attempting similar- going back to school in early 2000's, that whole lot of veterans of all ages trying to get "degrees" in things like engineering, computers, etc... and this "vet" went back in later 2000"s and hardly saw another single US veteran let alone very many US "student's attempting this "difficult" task!

It simply might prove useful, taking cue off not only the VFW, from proposed credo above, but other organizations as well, such as Boy-Girl Scouts of America, US Army Ranger creed, etc... if the US as a "unified-nation,” just as Genghis Kahn’s “nation” was of different individual identities, adopted something for all its Citizen’s along a similar vein? One simply does not have to serve in the United States Military, to in fact serve the United States- or their Nation and community… is as oft believed! There are numerous other ways to “serve” - such as simply “working” a meaningful job, etc... So, with all that in mind, as one simply should not recommend something, without hopefully a recommended "workable" solution, below is a working “idea” of a US Citizen "Creed-Values” that wonder what Genghis Kahn, if alive today, and others would think of(?):

Recommended US Citizen Values/Creed Below:

1. I am a citizen of the United States of America.
2. I am proud of my country, fellow US Citizens, my flag, and the values they all collectively represent.
3. I live the values imbued in the United States Constitution and all its amendments and will continually strive to learn as much as possible about my Nation.
4. I strive to serve the United States by serving my community, my fellow citizens, in both peace and war.
5. I will strive to maintain a healthy lifestyle and maintain my mental and physical health and well-being.
6. I will attempt to do the best I can at all I endeavor both in personal as well as professional matters with honesty, integrity and decorum to the extent possible.
7. I seek both personal, community, business, and national continual improvement as long as I live.
8. I honor all those, whom in either service to the nation, or local community, made the ultimate sacrifice.
9. When both at home and abroad, I am a personal ambassador of the United States and will honor the recognized legitimate traditions and customs of others never once forgetting I am a US Citizen.
Well, just an idea, and perhaps something Genghis Kahn himself, had to unify his “culturally” diverse Nation! Both the author of “Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World” as well as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) “out-did” themselves with their words……

Must Read by all “US Citizen!!!!!”

26 people found this helpful

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Christopher H

An interestng, albiet, heavily revisionist piece on Genghis and the Mongol Empire.

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2015

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A well written and well read (in terms of the audio version) book on the Mongol Empire romthe time of Genghis Khan through the reign of Kubulai Khan. This book gives great detail into the early life of Tenmugen and the struggles and realities of living during a tumultuous period. The book isnt without its faults however, the author seems to go to great lengths to portray Genghis and the Mongols as bringers of peace and welfare. At one point he even goes so far as to suggest that a four year gap in the documentation of public executions must suggest that the Mongols did not execute. It seems like a rash assumption considering that the amount of death that followed the Mongol hoard would make Hitler jealous. All together it is an interesting read but please be aware that it comes through a very pro Mongol lens.

93 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Galway Cow

Vague but mildly interesting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2019

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I never knew all that much about Genghis Khan which is why I bought this book.

As regards history, it’s difficult to know what is true and what is not. In fact, one could go to a public event, as I did recently, and find that all recorded information on it is wildly inaccurate, incomplete, and heavily biased. Go back 800 years and it becomes a virtual impossibility to produce a piece of historical writing that holds any degree of accuracy and often any recorded history, such as it may be, is biased by being recorded by those who wished things to be recorded a certain way. The victors write history after all. And then we have writers who subsequently filter available data through their own subjective prisms so as to try to present it to a modern reader hundreds of years after supposed events occurred. And they may easily put a false flavour on things because of their desired aims rather than giving the reader anything of real substance.

Having said the above, there were times I found this book entertaining. The epic story of a man who went from being a slave to a great conqueror is fascinating.

There were places where I felt the story was perhaps trying to force modern ideological ideas on to the past rather than presenting things as they were at the time.

At times I felt like it just jumped from one fact to another which hindered my flow of reading and made it difficult for me to concentrate on it for as long as I usually would on books in general.

I expect this book took a lot of effort to write but that the central ideas of how Khan impacted the modern world could have been laid out more lucidly. In parts I found the book somewhat incoherent and dry, though it goes to certain lengths not to be which reminded me slightly of Hollywood blockbusters like Aladdin or Gladiator.

Is it worth a look? Maybe. I guess these things are subjective. I tend to consistently find “New York Times Bestseller” books a bit dull though.

11 people found this helpful

Kate

Great read - so informative

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 29, 2019

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I never knew there was so much about Genghis Khan. How do we not come across him at school when he has influenced our society so much. I haven't read any other books on him so I can't compare but I thoroughly enjoyed this one - and I'm not interested in history or biographies normally but this was easy to read.

5 people found this helpful

woz

The Biggest Empire

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 9, 2018

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this book is one of the best that I have ever read, I learnt so much about Gengis Khan and the Mongols he conquered an area as large as the whole of North America and never lost a single battle, the modern Asian Countries boundaries owe a lot to his battles i.e. China, India and Russia although he never lost a battle he was outnumbered on every occasion, I purchased this book for my daughters partners birthday in a couple of weeks time, hopefully he will enjoy reading it as much as I did.

4 people found this helpful

wezg

wezgbooks wordpress review

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2015

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It only took me three days to read this relatively thin paperback. Genghis Khan had a huge role in history and there is rather a dearth of information on him, considering the massive scale of the Mongol Empire he created. At its peak, it ran from the Pacific in the East to the Mediterranean in the West, bigger than the Roman Empire and that carved by Alexander the Great. The author based his account primarily on new revelations prompted by his research team re-examining the Secret History of The Mongols, an ancient document which was very difficult to translate and had laid hidden for many years due to the political upheavals in the region. Genghis has a mixed reputation throughout history, with the likes of Chaucer elevating him and Voltaire and Montesquieu later deriding him. The Mongols uniquely placed world culture in a position to develop into what we now know, with international trade, religious tolerance and mass migration of peoples. The Mongols are perhaps looked down upon for not bequeathing us anything unique from their own culture, but rather amalgamating and developing existing ideas from the races and civilisations of other people’s they conquered. They practised some novel ideas for the time such as diplomatic immunity, not torturing prisoners, allowing all religions to flourish under the empire with an emphasis on secular law. The book covers the rise of Temujin from his downtrodden youth, to the height of his power and then looks at the maintenance of his legacy after his death, with the separation of the great Khanate into four primary regions. It is a great look at medieval history from an Asian perspective and has enlightened me about various subjects from that time and added to knowledge I already had on the Crusades, Marco Polo, the Black Death and The European Renaissance. The decline of the Empire was sudden and could only arise through a natural disaster which engulfed the whole world, in the Great Plague. What would have occurred had this devastating illness never erupted? The book was brief and precise and covered a vast array of topics though in my opinion for such a good subject matter, it could have been more expansive in volume. It has given me a taste for Genghis Khan and I shall try to dig out some more similar biographies on the great Steppes people. https://wezgbooks.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/review-genghis-khan-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world/

12 people found this helpful

oldsteve

A lot about Genghis, not much about the Modern World

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 11, 2021

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Genghis Khan and his successors are important figures in world history that Westerners should know more about. (The Mongol Empire a it's maximum stretched from China to Syria and some people claim that 1 in 200 men are his descendants, for example) However, whilst this book tells the reader a lot about Mongolia and Genghis folklore, it is fairly weak on the reasons collapse of the Mongol Empire for there is not really much about how Genghis and his successors shaped the modern world that could stand rigorous questioning.

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