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Jack Weatherford

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World Kindle Edition

by Jack Weatherford (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The startling true history of how one extraordinary man from a remote corner of the world created an empire that led the world into the modern age—by the author featured in Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan.

The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in twenty-five years than the Romans did in four hundred. 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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March 22, 2005
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Genghis Khan decreed complete and total religious freedom for everyone.
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The Mongols did not find honor in fighting; they found honor in winning.
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Terror, he realized, was best spread not by the acts of warriors, but by the pens of scribes and scholars.
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Apart from its inapt title, Genghis Khan dies rather early on in this account and many of the battles are led by his numerous offspring. This book is a successful account of the century of turmoil brought to the world by a then little-known nation of itinerant hunters. In researching this book, Weatherford (Savages and Civilization), a professor of anthropology at Macalaster College, traveled thousands of miles, many on horseback, tracing Genghis Khan's steps into places unseen by Westerners since the khan's death and employing what he calls an "archeology of movement." Weatherford knows the story of the medieval Mongol conquests is gripping enough not to need superfluous embellishmentsâ"the personalities and the wars they waged provide plenty of color and suspense. In just 25 years, in a manner that inspired the blitzkrieg, the Mongols conquered more lands and people than the Romans had in over 400 years. Without pausing for too many digressions, Weatherford's brisk description of the Mongol military campaign and its revolutionary aspects analyzes the rout of imperial China, a siege of Baghdad and the razing of numerous European castles. On a smaller scale, Weatherford also devotes much attention to dismantling our notions of Genghis Khan as a brute. By his telling, the great general was a secular but faithful Christian, a progressive free trader, a regretful failed parent and a loving if polygamous husband. With appreciative descriptions of the sometimes tender tyrant, this chronicle supplies just enough personal and world history to satisfy any reader.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–An interesting, thought-provoking account of the conqueror's life and legacy. From his early years as the son of a widow abandoned by her clan, he showed remarkable ability as a charismatic leader and unifier. In 25 years, his army amassed a greater empire than the Romans had been able to achieve in 400. Whether judged on population or land area, it was twice as large as that of any other individual in history. This colorful retelling discusses many of the innovations that marked Khan's rule and contributed to his success. Although his name is now erroneously associated with terror and slaughter, he showed surprising restraint during a time when few others in power did. He allowed freedom of religion, encouraged free trade, developed a paper currency, and observed diplomatic immunity. As he encountered new cultures, he adopted or adapted their best practices, and constantly updated his military strategies. Although Khan's death occurs at the midpoint of this book, the tales of his survivors' exploits and the gradual fall of the Mongol dynasties are engaging and informative. Weatherford's efforts to credit Genghis Khan and his descendants with the ideas and innovations that created the Renaissance are a bit bewildering, but readers will be left with a new appreciation of a maligned culture, and a desire to learn more.–Kathy Tewell, Chantilly Regional Library, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

When the Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, exploded out of the central Asian steppes in the early thirteenth century, they began the acquisition of the largest land empire in history. Eventually, the Mongol Empire extended from the Pacific to the Mediterranean and from northern Siberia to Southeast Asia. Yet the West focuses primarily on Mongol savagery. In his revisionist history of the empire, anthropology professor Weatherford uses the so-called Secret History, a long-suppressed Mongol text, to balance the scales. He certainly makes some telling points. The Mongols unified disparate lands, maintained and even expanded east-west trade routes, and made possible eventual contact between Europe and East Asia. Although Mongol rulers were not innovators, Weatherford convincingly asserts that, like the Romans, they effectively used the talents of their subject peoples. Unfortunately, Weatherford is prone to exaggeration. He too easily accepts unverifiable legends as facts, and he gives the Mongols unwarranted credit for fostering the European Enlightenment. Still, this is a well-written and usually credible work that provides a necessary reassessment of the legacy of this vast empire. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"There is very little time for reading in my new job. But of the few books I've read, my favourite is Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford (Crown Publishers, New York). It's a fascinating book portraying Genghis Khan in a totally new light. It shows that he was a great secular leader, among other things."
—Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India

“Reads like the Iliad. . . Part travelogue, part epic narrative.”
—Washington Post

“It’s hard to think of anyone else who rose from such inauspicious beginnings to something so awesome, except maybe Jesus.”
—Harper’s

“Weatherford’s lively analysis restores the Mongol’s reputation, and it takes wonderful learned detours. . . . Well written and full of suprises.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Weatherford is a fantastic storyteller. . . . [His] portrait of Khan is drawn with sufficiently self-complicating depth. . . . Weatherford’s account gives a generous view of the Mongol conqueror at his best and worst.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune

From the Trade Paperback edition.

About the Author

JACK WEATHERFORD is a professor of anthropology at Macalester College in Minnesota. He is a specialist in tribal people and the author of Indian Givers, Native Roots, Savages and Civilization, and The History of Money.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Blood Clot

There is fire in his eyes and light in his face.

The Secret History of the Mongols

Of the thousands of cities conquered by the Mongols, history only mentions one that Genghis Khan deigned to enter. Usually, when victory became assured, he withdrew with his court to a distant and more pleasant camp while his warriors completed their tasks. On a March day in 1220, the Year of the Dragon, the Mongol conqueror broke with his peculiar tradition by leading his cavalry into the center of the newly conquered city of Bukhara, one of the most important cities belonging to the sultan of Khwarizm in what is now Uzbekistan. Although neither the capital nor the major commercial city, Bukhara occupied an exalted emotional position throughout the Muslim world as Noble Bukhara, the center of religious piety known by the epithet "the ornament and delight to all Islam." Knowing fully the propaganda value of his actions by conquering and entering the city, Genghis Khan rode triumphantly through the city gates, past the warren of wooden houses and vendors' stalls, to the large cluster of stone and brick buildings at the center of the city.

His entry into Bukhara followed the successful conclusion of possibly the most audacious surprise attack in military history. While one part of his army took the direct route from Mongolia to attack the sultan's border cities head-on, he had secretly pulled and pushed another division of warriors over a distance longer than any other army had ever covered--two thousand miles of desert, mountains, and steppe--to appear deep behind enemy lines, where least expected. Even trade caravans avoided the Kyzyl Kum, the fabled Red Desert, by detouring hundreds of miles to avoid it; and that fact, of course, was precisely why Genghis Khan chose to attack from that direction. By befriending the nomads of the area, he was able to lead his army on a hitherto unknown track through the stone and sand desert.

His targeted city of Bukhara stood at the center of a fertile oasis astride one of the tributaries of the Amu Darya inhabited mostly by Tajik or Persian people, but ruled by Turkic tribesmen in the newly created empire of Khwarizm, one of the many transitory empires of the era. The sultan of Khwarizm had, in a grievously fatal mistake, provoked the enmity of Genghis Khan by looting a Mongol trade caravan and disfiguring the faces of Mongol ambassadors sent to negotiate peaceful commerce. Although nearly sixty years old, when Genghis Khan heard of the attack on his men, he did not hesitate to summon his disciplined and experienced army once again to their mounts and to charge down the road of war.

In contrast to almost every major army in history, the Mongols traveled lightly, without a supply train. By waiting until the coldest months to make the desert crossing, men and horses required less water. Dew also formed during this season, thereby stimulating the growth of some grass that provided grazing for horses and attracted game that the men eagerly hunted for their own sustenance. Instead of transporting slow-moving siege engines and heavy equipment with them, the Mongols carried a faster-moving engineer corps that could build whatever was needed on the spot from available materials. When the Mongols came to the first trees after crossing the vast desert, they cut them down and made them into ladders, siege engines, and other instruments for their attack.

When the advance guard spotted the first small settlement after leaving the desert, the rapidly moving detachment immediately changed pace, moving now in a slow, lumbering procession, as though they were merchants coming to trade, rather than with the speed of warriors on the attack. The hostile force nonchalantly ambled up to the gates of the town before the residents realized who they were and sounded an alarm.

Upon emerging unexpectedly from the desert, Genghis Khan did not race to attack Bukhara immediately. He knew that no reinforcements could leave the border cities under attack by his army, and he therefore had time to play on the surprise in a tortured manipulation of public fear and hope. The objective of such tactics was simple and always the same: to frighten the enemy into surrendering before an actual battle began. By first capturing several small towns in the vicinity, Genghis Khan's army set many local people to flight toward Bukhara as refugees who not only filled the city but greatly increased the level of terror in it. By striking deeply behind the enemy lines, the Mongols immediately created havoc and panic throughout the kingdom. As the Persian chronicler Ata-Malik Juvaini described his approach, when the people saw the countryside all around them "choked with horsemen and the air black as night with the dust of cavalry, fright and panic overcame then, and fear and dread prevailed." In preparing the psychological attack on a city, Genghis Khan began with two examples of what awaited the people. He offered generous terms of surrender to the outlying communities, and the ones that accepted the terms and joined the Mongols received great leniency. In the words of the Persian chronicler, "whoever yields and submits to them is safe and free from the terror and disgrace of their severity." Those that refused received exceptionally harsh treatment, as the Mongols herded the captives before them to be used as cannon fodder in the next attack.

The tactic panicked the Turkic defenders of Bukhara. Leaving only about five hundred soldiers behind to man the citadel of Bukhara, the remaining army of twenty thousand soldiers fled in what they thought was still time before the main Mongol army arrived. By abandoning their fortress and dispersing in flight, they sprung Genghis Khan's trap, and the Mongol warriors, who were already stationed in wait for the fleeing soldiers, cut them down at a nearly leisurely pace.

The civilian population of Bukhara surrendered and opened the city gates, but the small contingent of defiant soldiers remained in their citadel, where they hoped that the massive walls would allow them to hold out indefinitely against any siege. To more carefully assess the overall situation, Genghis Khan made his unprecedented decision to enter the city. One of his first acts on reaching the center of Bukhara, or upon accepting the surrender of any people, was to summon them to bring fodder for his horses. Feeding the Mongol warriors and their horses was taken as a sign of submission by the conquered; more important, by receiving the food and fodder, Genghis Khan signaled his acceptance of the people as vassals entitled to Mongol protection as well as subject to his command.

From the time of his central Asian conquests, we have one of the few written descriptions of Genghis Khan, who was about sixty years old. The Persian chronicler Minhaj al-Siraj Juzjani, who was far less kindly disposed toward the Mongols than the chronicler Juvaini, described him as "a man of tall stature, of vigorous build, robust in body, the hair on his face scanty and turned white, with cats' eyes, possessed of dedicated energy, discernment, genius, and understanding, awe-striking, a butcher, just, resolute, an overthrower of enemies, intrepid, sanguinary, and cruel." Because of his uncanny ability to destroy cities and conquer armies many times the size of his own, the chronicler also goes on to declare that Genghis Khan was "adept at magic and deception, and some of the devils were his friends."

Eyewitnesses reported that upon reaching the center of Bukhara, Genghis Khan rode up to the large mosque and asked if, since it was the largest building in the city, it was the home of the sultan. When informed that it was the house of God, not the sultan, he said nothing. For the Mongols, the one God was the Eternal Blue Sky that stretched from horizon to horizon in all four directions. God presided over the whole earth; he could not be cooped up in a house of stone like a prisoner or a caged animal, nor, as the city people claimed, could his words be captured and confined inside the covers of a book. In his own experience, Genghis Khan had often felt the presence and heard the voice of God speaking directly to him in the vast open air of the mountains in his homeland, and by following those words, he had become the conqueror of great cities and huge nations.

Genghis Khan dismounted from his horse in order to walk into the great mosque, the only such building he is known to have ever entered in his life. Upon entering, he ordered that the scholars and clerics feed his horses, freeing them from further danger and placing them under his protection, as he did with almost all religious personnel who came under his control. Next, he summoned the 280 richest men of the city to the mosque. Despite his limited experience inside city walls, Genghis Khan still had a keen grasp of the working of human emotion and sentiment. Before the assembled men in the mosque, Genghis Khan took a few steps up the pulpit stairs, then turned to face the elite of Bukhara. Through interpreters, he lectured them sternly on the sins and misdeeds of their sultan and themselves. It was not the common people who were to blame for these failures; rather, "it is the great ones among you who have committed these sins. If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you." He then gave each rich man into the control of one of his Mongol warriors, who would go with him and collect his treasure. He admonished his rich prisoners not to bother showing them the wealth above the ground; the Mongols could find that without assistance. He wanted them to guide them only to their hidden or buried treasure.

Having begun the systematic plundering of the city, Genghis Khan turned his attention to attacking the Turkic warriors still defiantly sealed inside the citadel of Bukhara. Although not familiar with the Mongols in particular, the people in the urbanized oases of central Asian cities like Bukhara and Samarkand had seen many b...

From AudioFile

Weatherford's well-researched history of the twelfth-century Mongol conqueror and his impact on the generations that followed is a rich and fully engaging narrative, and Jonathan Davis delivers it to its best effect. The events themselves are dramatic, and the story of the Mongol conquest is one that every history buff should learn, nowhere better than here. Weatherford's admiration for Genghis and his firsthand knowledge of many of the sites important in Mongol history give this text an immediacy and a visual quality that are enhanced by Davis's presentation. When the narrative begins to lag in its final hour or two as it moves farther from the twelfth century, Davis's crisp pace maintains the listener's interest to the end. An informative and provocative work of popular history. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000FCK206
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Crown (March 22, 2005)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 22, 2005
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 5005 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 352 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #52,648 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #2 in Historical Asian Biographies (Kindle Store)
- #6 in History of Medieval Europe
- #31 in History of Anthropology

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4.6 7,751 ratings

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Jack Weatherford

Jack Weatherford

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Jack Weatherford is the New York Times bestselling author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed The world The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, Genghis Khan and the Quest for God, and The History of Money. His books have been published in more than thirty languages.

In 2006 he spoke at the United Nations at the invitation of Russia and India to honor the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Mongol nation by Genghis Khan. In 2007 President Enkhbayar of Mongolia awarded him the Order of the Polar Star. In 2022 on the 860th anniversary of the birth of Genghis Khan, President Khurelsukh made him the first foreigner to receive Mongolia’s highest honor the Order of Chinggis Khan which had only been awarded fifteen times in Mongolian history.

Although the original Spanish edition of Indian Givers was banned in some parts of Latin America, nearly a quarter of a century later in 2014 Bolivia honored him for this work on the indigenous people of the Americas with the Order of the Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho, Antonio José Sucre and named him Honorary Cultural Ambassador of Bolivia’s Casa de Libertad in the Constitutional Capital Sucre, and honorary citizen of Potosí.

In 1964 he graduated from Dreher High School with Walker Pearce to whom he was married from 1970 until her death from multiple sclerosis in 2013. After a graduate degree from the University of South Carolina, he earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, San Diego with additional graduate work at Frankfurt University and Duke University. He worked as legislative assistant to Senator John Glenn and taught for twenty-nine years at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he held the DeWitt Wallace Distinguished Chair of Anthropology.

He now lives at Tur Hurah on the Bogd Khan Mountain in Mongolia.

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Customers find the book highly readable and well-told. They appreciate the information quality, saying it provides great detail on subjects. Readers describe the storytelling as interesting and engaging. They also find the history incredible and fascinating.

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317 customers mention "Readability"306 positive11 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, beautifully written, and entertaining. They say it's well-thought-out and an absorbing read. Readers also mention the author is judicious in his use of words.

"...is the book's greatest strength, and the author's, it is fine and engrossing reading, even if it presents a distorted and revisionist viewpoint of..." Read more

"...Despite the author's academic background, the style is lucid and enjoyable. All in all, this is a very stimulating and enlightening book...." Read more

"...As Weatherfield shows in this beautifully-written, well thought-out book...." Read more

"...their contributions to our world today seems so well researched, well written, full of surprises and reversals, introducing information that to me..." Read more

294 customers mention "Information quality"279 positive15 negative

Customers find the book informative and interesting. They say it provides great detail on subjects they often read about. Readers also mention the historiography is eye-opening, giving insight into a remarkable life. In addition, they appreciate the author's research and writing.

"...Parts I and II are excellent. Better history, sticking more to G.Khan than to J.Weatherford and his moralizing of the Mongols...." Read more

"...As I will discuss below, the historiography is eye-opening, but so is the history...." Read more

"...researched, well written, full of surprises and reversals, introducing information that to me is new and radically different from what I had learned..." Read more

"This is an enlightening book...." Read more

167 customers mention "Storytelling"164 positive3 negative

Customers find the stories interesting, engaging, and compelling. They appreciate the excellent narrative and lively history. Readers also mention the author writes beautifully, never letting the topic become dull or tiresome.

"...But no matter, consider the book a whopping good historical novel, for it reads smoothly like a good addictive detective novel until almost the end...." Read more

"...This is a compelling story compellingly told. It is well worth the time it will take to read it." Read more

"...The act of reading the book is a fascinating and compelling journey of discovery through which the author leads the reader in his attempt to restore..." Read more

"...It's entertaining and educational, I found myself wanting more in multiple respects. More details, more evidence, more expansive coverage...." Read more

52 customers mention "History"49 positive3 negative

Customers find the history in the book incredible, interesting, and excellent. They say it provides fascinating information about Mongol history and the impact of the Mongols on the world. Readers also mention the book is enlightened and provides an excellent description of the birthplace and nature of nomadic life.

"One of the best history books I have ever read!" Read more

"Amazing history of Genghis Khan, and an understanding of a great people that many of us have not read about before...." Read more

"...read if you enjoy reading about some of the most powerful, complex people in history!" Read more

"...the way a great number of very interesting and historically significant individuals are introduced, including but not limited to his immediate family..." Read more

25 customers mention "Ease of use"25 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to follow, quick, and accessible to the average person. They say it's concise and a well-laid out storyline. Readers also mention the book is hard to put down.

"...This book is easily read, it is not a textbook, it is very accessible to the average person, and the history buff will, I'm sure, enjoy it. I did...." Read more

"...I thought this book was fascinating, it was an easy & very fun read...." Read more

"...The book was easy to follow and hard to put down...." Read more

"...Yet there is enough to make his writing interesting as well as easy to understand. This is one of the most readable of all Big Histories...." Read more

12 customers mention "Enlightened leadership"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the leadership in the book phenomenal, progressive, and fascinating. They say the history of the Khan's teaches a lot of leadership lessons. Readers also mention the book is a great story about a fascinating historical character.

"...For all his military ferocity, Genghis Kahn was a surprisingly enlightened politician...." Read more

"...A most interesting, fascinating person, incredible to know of him and this book does an excellent job in so doing. Enjoyable as well as informative." Read more

"...Many of the ideas and practices seem so very modern and progressive...." Read more

"...blasts the myths surrounding Ghenghis Khan and demonstrates his wisdom and courage as a leader...." Read more

14 customers mention "Reliance on source material"0 positive14 negative

Customers find the book's reliance on source material problematic and poor. They say the sources are disparate, often in conflict with one another, or missing. Readers also have suspicions about its objectivity. Additionally, they mention the references and citations are disappointing and confusing.

"...Source material is disparate, often in conflict with one another, or commonly missing altogether...." Read more

"...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..." Read more

"...It did not disappoint - although I was left with a little suspicion about its objectivity...." Read more

"...Furthermore, the author finishes the book with some of the most grossly exaggerated claims I have ever read, such as that Russian military tactics..." Read more

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whopping good historical novel

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2006

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When reading biographies it is always important to keep in mind, that what Peter says about Paul often tells you more about Peter than about Paul. It is certainly true in this case(perhaps more so than is usual), for i am sure i learned as much or more about J.Weatherford when reading this book then i did about G.Khan, although the problem is that most of it is projected onto Khan rather than honestly attributed to the author. But no matter, consider the book a whopping good historical novel, for it reads smoothly like a good addictive detective novel until almost the end. That is the book's greatest strength, and the author's, it is fine and engrossing reading, even if it presents a distorted and revisionist viewpoint of the great Mongolian world conqueror, it does so in such a way that people will actually read and enjoy the book. J.Weatherford has my welcome permission to rewrite any engineering and math text i've ever been subjected to, he can alter the formulas and make the equations as unbalanced as he wants, the sacrifice of truth and correctness to readability is worth the exchange. (not really but you get the idea)

As has been remarked in several other amazon reviews, the book is uneven:

Part I The Reign of Terror on the Steppe: 1162-1206

1: The Blood Clot

2:Tale of Three Rivers

3: War of the Khans

Part II The Mongol World War: 1211-1261

4: Spitting on the Golden Khan

5: Sultan Versus Khan

6: Discovery and Conquest of Europe

7: Warring Queens

Part III The Global Awakening: 1262-1962

8:Khubilai Khan and the New Mongol Empire

9: Their Golden Light

10: The Empire of Illusion

Epilogue: The Eternal Spirit of Genghis Khan

Parts I and II are excellent. Better history, sticking more to G.Khan than to J.Weatherford and his moralizing of the Mongols. Part III is worth reading but only if you like the big ideas that Weatherford is trying to sell: the Mongols as internationalizers. As the book puts it, G.Khan tears down the walls between the cities, allowing their merchants to exchange goods without political interference. The author may very well be right in his analysis, but i would prefer that it be introduced as analysis and not as biography. So, generally the author's top down analysis condemns the book on the factual level to historical novel status. Akin to rewriting a math book and getting the formulas wrong because they read better in the revisionist form. As a result, because the book interests me, not just at the low level of biographical details, but because i am interested in these high order analysis principles i collected a few recommendations as i read the amazon reviews, find them attached. Furthermore, I thought at first, that the introduction was a joke, the secret history of the mongols, the forbidden zone around a sacred mountain set off internal alarms that this guy is wacko, so don't start reading there, too many red flags. Read either of the first 3 chapters to get a flavor and frankly to get addicted to read the rest.

My big question is if the death and destruction was worth the universal, widespread, free flow of goods, ideas and people that followed under a unified(kindof4in1) Mongol empire?

It is a moral question, complicated by the fact that the Black Death may not have followed the Mongol lines of communication as they did, killing even more people, if the Mongols had never conquered the known world. I know it is playing the "what if" game, which may not be the greatest way of handling nor understanding history. But it is one of the big issues of the book, the making of our modern world begins with the Mongol conquests (at least the gospel according to J.Weatherford) First, is it true or even a useful idea? and Second was it a good thing? I don't know, hence the list of further reading to do. But that is the legacy of this book, more questions, and that is why, despite it's shortcomings i rated it a 5 star. Books that ask these sorts of questions (big questions, moral questions, big picture principles) and encourage people to read them because of their style and ability to suck the reader in, are worth reading.

Does Genghis Khan need a good press agent(in addition to J.Weatherford)? Was his memory distorted and unjustly tied to Tamerlane? I don't know, but i know i don't trust this author to tell me it was. Did the Mongols act as a conduit for lots of good ideas from China to Europe? Of course, printing, gunpowder, compass for example. Was their's a benevolent, all faith's compete equally for the Khan's attention, state over religion, pragmatic rule that brought enlightenment to those it conquered, while carrying away the skilled and intelligentsia and killing off the hated aristocracy? Perhaps. Was it the last great battle in the Cain versus Abel, horsemen versus planter, ger versus city, tabernacle versus temple, great metaphoric battle? It's not a bad organizing principle even when it sacrifices historical detail to persuasiveness. After all, much of the value of reading lies in what you remember in a year, versus the lost details which escape our diminishing memories, those big images will remain in my mind long after the textbook details they substituted for vaporize as did the Mongol empire.

but don't let this review miss the first big point, Genghis Khan was a genius, of first order rank, a worth subject of biographies and of directed reading. What makes men like this, what they did to our world and what that means to us are important issues. nor the second big point, history is moralizing, by it's very nature, but usually it isn't so blatant or obvious. Which is a good-bad thing, at least with this book it is so obvious that you recognize it, others sneek it in below the level of consciousness and you imagine that they're objective and unmoralizing when they just hide their message better. History is written, not for the past but to influence the future by changing the people's minds about how their present really, truely got here. In that way, because the book is so heavy handed in it's analysis, his revisionist message will be rejected more often than it is taken seriously and examined. Maybe that is sad, perhaps the Mongols are the first empire builders that ushered in the modern age.

so, i do recommend the book, but not for the details but for the big picture, and understanding that it is rather distorted by the author's strong revisionist ideas. If you understand that you are learning about two men in reading the book, G.Khan and J.Weatherford, then you'll get the priorities close enough to get the book into the right slots in your mind, for what JW says about GK really does say as much about JW as it does about GK. If you want to learn more about GK and not about JW, see the books listed, and please email me with your recommendations at rwilliam2 at yahoo dot com. thanks.

reviewer recommendation:

Rene Grousset's "The Empire of the Steppes" or Harold Lamb's "The March of the Barbarians"

Genghis Khan or the Emperor of All Men by Harold Lamb

Genghis Khan and the Mongol Conquests 1190-1400 by Stephen R. Turnbull

Subotai the Valiant : Genghis Khan's Greatest General by Richard A. Gabriel

The Perilous Frontier by Barfield

42 people found this helpful

Terrific but polemic

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2012

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I loved this book. It is a delightful read and very comprehensive. In fact, Genghis's life is covered in a little over half the book. The rest deals with the consequences. Other reviews have mentioned the inaccuracies, and sometimes the author is unclear as to whether he is recounting legend or fact. Much of the book about Genghis himself is based on The Secret History, a rare book, difficult to translate, and obviously written for political reasons.

A problem I have is the tone of the book. While the author wants to correct the erroneous and confused image of Genghis, he tries too hard to "rehabilitate" the image. This is to some extent quite justified. But, I think the tone is almost like that of Genghis's PR agent. Of course it is a political year, so maybe I'm oversensitized.

The author makes the very good point that the administration of Ghenghis, and to some extent his grandson Khubulai,employed many creative aspects from which we might learn.

I'm puzzled, however, by the fact that Genghis was untutored and illiterate, typical of the Mongols, yet his administration required a lot of record keeping and arithmetical skills, the source of which is unclear. Moreover, the plethora of creative innovations would seem to have come from more than Genghis's experience and observation. Perhaps the author might have delved more deeply into where these factors came from.

The author makes a very persuasive argument that much of the foundations of the Renaissance came not from Crusaders grabbing texts from the Holy Land but from their observations of, and interest in, the Mongols. There is a great section on the bubonic plague, supposedly originating in Southern China, infecting the world due to the trade routes and mail system developed by the Mongols. This development prostrated Europe and the Mongols as well, although several centuries before the Renaissance.

One interesting note, not made by the author, is the impact of these reforms on modern China. For instance, we read elsewhere of the neighborhood and workplace "councils" prevalent to this day in China. An argument can be made that these reflect mongol traditions. Further, some of the current politburo struggles are reminiscent of those of the Mongols in a rather striking way.

Those in the military might also benefit from reading the analysis of Genghis's military victories. He used the latest technologies, was highly unpredictable, focused on winning and winning only. Those enemies who gave up were treated well, those who didn't were disposed of. The Mongols succeeded in abolishing the assassins, appeared to pacify Afghanistan, and subdued a major portion of the Muslim world. Would that we were that successful.

Although the purpose of war was often the booty, the book also shows the problems associated with an economy based on warfare, booty or none.

Despite the author's academic background, the style is lucid and enjoyable. All in all, this is a very stimulating and enlightening book. I took one star away only because of the tone and what the author did not face, as described above.

14 people found this helpful

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O melhor imperio que o mundo não conheceu

A melhor e mais profunda visão sobre os legados do maior lider que já passou no planeta

Reviewed in Brazil on June 17, 2024

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O autor viveu +5 anos com diferentes tribos nas terras que pertenceram ao vasto imperio que Genghis Khan construiu. Dificilima tarefa para resgatar o que a inveja e a ignorancia , a intolerancia religiosa e racial, desde o seculo XIII, tentou negar e apagar.
Temujin era um homem simples, com uma visão incrivel de convivencia das tribos (povos). O unico conquistador da historia que não invadia, matava, se apossava de terras e povos para obter poder e riqueza, mas para unificar os povos em torno de uma vida simples e plena. Sua grande inteligencia e raciocinio simples, sem ganancia, medo, convenções, formaram o melhor, mais disciplinado e eficiente exercito que em menos de 20 anos, unificaram todas as tribos do leste, oeste, e sul da Asia, chegando à Europa (Polonia, Bulgaria, Hungria, Russia,...).
Foi em seu imperio que pela primeira vez, o mundo sob seu dominio, conheceu a tolerancia religiosa e racial. Surgiram os salarios para medicos, professores e artesaos. "Escravos" tinham salarios e podiam ter carreiras, criaram-se leis comerciais e trading (globalização), papel moeda circulante a todo povo, escolas publicas, correios, courier, e uma infinidade de coisas qye temos por garantido, mas que a educação e cultura ocidental, sempre negou, omitiu ou jamais se preocupou em creditar!

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Cuauhtli Elizalde

Awesome. This book is a must

Reviewed in Mexico on January 16, 2023

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By reading this book, I love even more ancient Mongolian history. Even I dreamt (I'm not kidding or exaggerating) about one of the sons of Temujin.

cartoisb

Exceptional history book on an important topic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2024

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The Mongol empire is a fascinating historical topic that is largely neglected and misunderstood in mainstream Western education. In this book Weatherford does a great job showing the critical role that the empire played in the development of the modern world. His writing style is clear, well-organised and entertaining, and he ties the events together in a way that gives the reader a real sense of history.

Jai Sandhawalia

Reads like a thriller

Reviewed in India on February 28, 2024

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Excellent research. Very well written.

Timo Kopke

Extrem interessant

Reviewed in Germany on December 19, 2023

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Dieses Buch wurde im Buch Tools of the Titans von Tim Ferris erwähnt, und ich bin froh es gelesen zu haben.

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