Jack Weatherford combines scholarship and historical interpretation to bring Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes to life. It is a compelling read and the reader comes away exceptionally well informed about the principal events relating to the Mongol Empire and indeed, the principal forces at work in the thirteenth century. Weatherford begins with the minutiae of Genghis Khan's childhood, carries the story south into China, and west through Central Asia and Eastern Europe, ending in the retreat of the empire after the death of the last Great Khan.

Weatherford makes a compelling case for Mongol "universalism." "Because they had no system of their own to impose upon their subjects, they were willing to adopt and combine systems from everywhere. Without deep cultural preferences in these areas, the Mongols implemented pragmatic rather than ideological solutions...The Mongols had the power...to impose new international systems of technology, agriculture, and knowledge that superseded the predilections or prejudices of any single civilization and in so doing, they broke the monopoly on thought exercised by local elites."

The principal theme of this book is Weatherford's assertion that "in conquering their empire, not only had the Mongols revolutionized warfare, they also created the nucleus of a universal culture and world system." In a case of what the State Department calls "clientitis," the author asserts that this "universalism" became the basis for modern civilization. "This new global culture continued to grow long after the demise of the Mongol Empire, and through continued development over the coming centuries, it became the foundation for the modern world system with the original Mongol emphases on free commerce, open communication, shared knowledge, secular politics, religious coexistence, international law and diplomatic immunity."

We will all have to agree about the remarkable influence exerted by the Mongols in innumerable walks of life, and we should give credit where credit is due. It will be up to the individual reader, however, whether to accept the author's assertion that the European Renaissance, signifying rebirth, "was not the ancient world of Greece and Rome being reborn: It was the Mongol Empire, picked up, transferred, and adapted by the Europeans to their own needs and culture." If so, The Great Khan would be very pleased.

Everyone that is interested in politics should read this book. It is truely amazing. I traveled to Mongolia this summer and the Mongolians truely lookup to Chengis Khan and for good reason.

I couldn't put this book down. If you're interested in the Mongols, or Khan himself, or history, or just want a great read, this would be the book to buy. It will make all other history books read like dry text books.

This is a superb history of Genghis Kahn and the Mongol Hords, without the European and Islamic biases that go with it. The Mongol conquerers and rulers come across as more competent and, dare I say it, more tolerant than the people they conquered, albeit part of the same milieu of conquering, taking spoils of war, and enslaving as most people of their day. As rulers they actually understood economics and commerce better than most and brought prosperity and stability the the worlds they ruled.

Im not going to rehash the story because others here have done it thoroughly. The book was easy to read and seems to fly in the face of the usual opinion of Genghis Kahn as a blood thirsty rapist mongrel. Apparently new original documents surfaced after the fall of the Soviet Union and scholars got together to pin down the real story.

I too wondered about the missing reference to geneticist's discovery about his Y chromosome, which appears to show that he might just have been the most prolific lover in the last couple of millennia! But not having those facts on hand, like where did they get his dna from anyway since his grave has never been discovered.

Also missing is Coleridge's poem
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

It was interesting to realize that the wives actually administered the kingdoms because the Kahns were off making war. Genghis seemed to have loved his wife a great deal according the the documents plus he did battle for her after she was kidnapped. When she returned pregnant he raised the son as his very own. He seemed to turn out to be his best son. The author is kind of sappy. He is always comparing Genghis to the roman catholic church which slaughtered countless people at the same time Genghis was roaming around.

Im not going to rehash the story because others here have done it thoroughly. The book was easy to read and seems to fly in the face of the usual opinion of Genghis Kahn as a blood thirsty rapist mongrel. Apparently new original documents surfaced after the fall of the Soviet Union and scholars got together to pin down the real story.

I too wondered about the missing reference to geneticist's discovery about his Y chromosome, which appears to show that he might just have been the most prolific lover in the last couple of millennia! But not having those facts on hand, like where did they get his dna from anyway since his grave has never been discovered.

Also missing is Coleridge's poem
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

It was interesting to realize that the wives actually administered the kingdoms because the Kahns were off making war. Genghis seemed to have loved his wife a great deal according the the documents plus he did battle for her after she was kidnapped. When she returned pregnant he raised the son as his very own. He seemed to turn out to be his best son.

This is a well written, nicely flowing work. The author, Jack Weatherford, traces the life and time of Genghis Khan, born as Temujin, and his descendants. He notes the impact of the plague on the Mongols and how that plague spread, to some extent by the Mongols. And he makes the claim that the Mongols had an appreciable impact on the West's Renaissance.

Weatherford begins by noting the purpose of his book (Page xxxv): "The focus remains on the mission of our work: to understand Genghis Khan and his impact on world history." The book is in three parts: first, Genghis Khan's rise to power and the development of the Mongol Empire; second, the period when the Mongols became a major world player, until the empire began devouring itself with internecine warfare; third, the effect of the Mongols on the development of modern society. There is a useful genealogy at the start of the book; however, the book would have benefited greatly with an ample supply of maps, so that the reader could trace developments geographically.

The book does a terrific job of describing Khan's background--from his youth until he began developing a powerhouse, to his death. His military forces used innovative tactics that baffled his opponents, adapting Mongol warriors' mobility to advantage. The Mongols expanded their sway until--at its greatest point, it was larger than the Roman Empire at its height. It stretched, in 1260, from China to Moscow and Kiev, and to the doorsteps of Vienna, from Baghdad to Samarkand.

Weatherford goes on to discuss the Empire after Genghis Khan's death. It continued to function until the combat among his sons led to more and more internal troubles. This depiction of internal problems, again, is well done.

It amazes me how detailed is the discussion of people and events from so long ago.

However, when he comes to argue that the Mongol Empire sparked the Renaissance and later European history, It appears to me that his grasp exceeds his reach. I am not certain that quoting Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" with references to Genghis Khan (as part of his argument) is compelling. Nonetheless, while I did not find his case so convincing, it did cause me to reflect on important historical issues, and that--in itself--is a contribution.

In short, a well done book on the Mongol Empire and its founder. Worth taking a look at. . . .

Fascinating details of the conquest of Asia and Europe. It is amazing to read about what Genghis Kahn was able to do in a short period of time.

Excellent book. Very informative and eye opening. It dispels the myths about the mongols and clearly shows how the modern world's existence is in large part a consequence of the Mongol Expansion.

What an unlightening experience! Genghis Khan's story has too long been left untold and this work of historical fiction sheds light on this extraordinary man. It should be required reading for all World Civilization students.

Writing with rare lyrical sensitivity, this ambitious book attempts to re-invent our world. While Weatherford may be over-reaching here and there in his zeal, it is the passion behind the writing that makes it one of the best and most informative re-tellings of the Genghis Khan story.

The first part deals with GK consolidating power in Mongolia (Chapters 2-3). The middle part (Chapters 4-8) deals with world conquest and empire. The last and most interesting part (Chapters 9-10) deal with the legacy of his empire ("the making of the modern world").

Genghis Khan started on world conquest when he was nearly 50, and within fifteen years (1212 to his death in 1227), he had conquered four times the territory of the Roman or Macedonian empires at their peak. Part of his military strategy was psychological; cities that resisted were slaughtered to a man.

But the most novel aspect of the book (for me) is the impact of this large trade-friendly empire that spanned Eurasia for over 200 years (Chapter 9).
Perhaps he over-dramatizes a little: "Under influences from paper and printing, gunpowder and firearms, and the spread of the navigational compass... Europeans experienced a Renaissance, literally a rebirth, but it was not the ancient world of Greece or Rome being reborn. It was the Mongol Empire, picked up, transferred, and adapted by the Europeans" The claim seems almost unbelievable, so I went to several online sources simply to verify the specifics; I found most of it well-corroborated.

Furthermore, processes such as codification of laws, lightning mobility in war (the inspiration for Nazi "blitzkrieg"), religious freedom, and participative government, all taken for granted today, were practiced in the Mongol Empire and may have influenced European thinking.

The final chapter (10) deals with the historiographical process - how come Genghis' only image today is that of a brutal barbarian? Weatherford shows how initial European views (Marco Polo / Chaucer) were extremely positive, but there was a complete volte face during the Age of Enlightenment. Later, the scientitists came in, positing human sub-species such as the "mongoloid" and the "caucasian", with the Mongoloid being viewed as a primitive evolutionary stage, with a close relationship to the orangutan (p. 257).

Fired up after reading this, I also got a copy of Paul Ratchnevsky's widely acclaimed Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy - in addition to Mongol and Persian sources consulted by Weatherford, Ratchnevsky also considers Chinese histories, but the basic story does not appear to change that much.

For a scholarly history text, this is an extremely easy read.

This is the tale of Temujin (1162 - 1227 AD), later known as Chinggis or Genghis Khan, a poverty-stricken outcast who became the leader of one of the greatest empires in history. At its height, under Temujin's grandson Khubilai Khan, the Mongol empire ranged from Baghdad to Peking and included all of modern China, most of modern Russia, Turkey and northern India. The conquest and command of such a vast amount of territory by a nomadic, largely illiterate people is a remarkable feat in itself; that the Mongols governed well and introduced numerous innovations across their huge empire is extraordinary.

The first half of the book is a biography of Genghis Khan; after that it's the history of the empire he established and its ultimate dissolution in the plague years of the14th century. It's also the story of the many innovations pioneered by the Mongols: paper currency, a unified monetary system, trade on a grand scale across thousands of miles, a universal language, religious freedom, and a consistent and humane legal code, to name only a few. It's true the empire eventually disintegrated in the aftermath of the plague, which effectively halted commerce across Eurasia, but not before East and West had exchanged numerous goods and knowledge.

The book also clarifies how the Mongols acquired the outrageous reputation they have had as barbarians up to the present day. This portion of the story is an excellent lesson in the misuse of history and the role of prejudice in the absence of facts.

I found the book readable and enlightening; for me, it was an antidote to ignorance, illuminating a shadowy corner of world history often missed in both Western (Europe and the new world) and Eastern (India, China, Japan) civilization courses.

insightful, fresh, and impossible to put down if you have any interest in the history, both military and civil, of the mongols under genghis khan.

This shows what good research can do when trying to find out about past peoples, their operative social behaviors, and diplomatic cuture.
Jack Weatherford takes the reader on an off the shoulders look of this great and charismatic leader. It is a beautiful thing!
From his family affiliations, his practical military operations, and the major goal: building the Mongolian Empire. Once you start, you won't stop till the end.
An excellent read.

You must read this if you are majored in International Studies, Geopolitics or East Asian Studies. Not only it gives every detail of Mongolia and Genghis Khan's history, but also the book covers from Chinese Ming Dyansty to Renaissance era.

This book is a page-flipper.

Wow!

This book presents historical facts in an epic and articulate easy reading. Weatherford uncovers many facts about Gengis Khan that are usually unknown. The book reveals many aspects of the Mongol nation that undeservedly have been neglected by the western version of history.
It is very refreshing and delightful to read unprejudiced facts about the greatest conqueror in the history of mankind and learn about a positive legacy that he left to the world.

Interesting biography/history of a great conqueror, detailing his childhood, rise to power and campaigns, as well as spending quite a bit of time on the social aspect of his rule, in particular, religious freedom and the expansion of commerce and trade throughout all of Asia. At times, the writer stretches to plead the importance of claims which may be overblown. Good history from an anthropologist who can write.

Fascinating book, and prior reviewers have summarized it well. My only comment is that Weatherford eulogizes him far too often. His accomplishments came at the expense of those he conquered. Lest we forget.... An army of 200,000 men does not move without supplies across 2,000 miles without living off the local population, for example. Massacre of the ruling class was considered barbaric in the 13th century, but it certainly made his takeover of Pakistan and Turkey simple. His descendents' methods were the inspiration of Nazi Germany, down to their ludicrous adoption of the swastika, for example.

Other than that, it is extremely well written and entertaining.

The nonfiction book "Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" by Jack Weatherford offers a fascinating biography/historical overview of the Mongol leader, Genghis Khan, who united all of Asia in the early thirteenth century.

The book begins with a (for me) jaw-dropping list of many of Genghis Khan's greatest achievements, then moves on to the thick of the story. Beginning with his mother's kidnapping while still a newlywed and moving through hundreds of years of world history, author Weatherford provides an easy-to-read, intriguing, and eye-opening account of the life and conquests of the Great Khan and his heirs to follow.

The first part of the book is a detailed bio about Genghis Khan, where you learn about life among the nomads, the Khan's modest background and various struggles growing up, and the actions that led up to his eventual conquest of everyone he encountered.

The rest of the book covers the Mongol's groundbreaking battle strategies, religious freedom and tolerance, great innovations, and constant forward thinking, as well as the internal strife (and illnesses) that eventually tore the dynasty apart.

Past reviewers of this book noted that there are historical inaccuracies, over-hyped accomplishments, and anti-Christian sentiment. I'm no scholar, so I cannot say one way or another if these are true complaints. I can say I was extremely entertained by this book and felt I learned a lot about Mongolian, Chinese, Persian, and European history and cultural. Highly recommended!

This is a well-written book that gives a good overall insight into the life of Genghis Khan and his conquests, but it suffers from an overly positive view of the man and overstatement of the Mongol empire's effect on history and the modern world. Surely Genghis Khan is one of the world's greatest conquerors and military tacticians ever, but going as far as to say that his empire was a precursor to the Renaissance in Europe (which owes a whole lot more to ancient Rome and Greece) and the subsequent "modern civilization" is going way overboard. Also, the author too easily excuses the unprecedented mass murder, plundering, rape, and destruction that the Mongols left in their wake. These oversights sour what is otherwise a well-researched and well-written book about the great conqueror.

Genghis Khan is certainly a great historical figure with a fascinating story of rising from a desperate situation of being a slave of a rival tribe to uniting all the Mongol tribes and amassing the largest contiguous land empire in the history of mankind. Genghis Khan was one extremely determined individual with an iron will and extraordinary charisma to lead a nation of illiterate nomads to conquer so many nations and cultures in a relatively short period of time. But in the macro view of world history, the Mongol empire's legacy simply isn't all that great - certainly not comparable to the empires established by Alexander the Great or the Romans.

What I find irksome amongst the Genghis Khan biographers and historians is that they always point out how much larger his empire was than that of Alexander or the Romans as though how much territory Genghis Khan overran and plundered is the sole overriding factor for who the "greatest" conqueror was. Things have to be observed and analyzed in the context of the times, the geography, and political situations of the surrounding areas. When you carefully look at it from such a context and the flow of history, what Genghis Khan achieved definitely isn't quite in the league of Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon. Close, but not quite there. It's kind of like, "Canada and Russia are both larger countries than the United States." Okay, we all agree... "China's population is much greater than that of the United States and Europe combined." Sure, that's impressive...

In the big scheme of things, the Mongols were simply marauders on the grandest scale with Genghis Khan at the helm organizing them into an efficient and disciplined fighting organization. As the book itself makes quite clear, the motives were simply to acquire luxuries like silk and jewelry that the Mongols had never ever seen before they embarked on their initial conquests. Once they tasted this kind of booty, their appetite and the means to acquire even more booty knew no bounds. And if a distant kingdom refused to submit and hand over their goods and treasures, the Mongol cavalry would come and kill every single inhabitant to acquire them. No matter how you look at it, this is all that the Mongol conquests boiled down to. What positive things did the Mongols really have to offer to those that they conquered?

There is no doubt that the effects of the Mongol conquests were felt for centuries to come and the greatest benefit was that they speeded up the trade and cultural exchanges between the West and the Far East. This has been well-documented through the travels of Marco Polo. Still, Weatherford too often extrapolates exchanges like these into something far greater through circumstantial evidence and conjectures. While I tend to agree that Genghis Khan was a pivotal figure in history, the claims of just how far-reaching the effects of his empire were are overwrought and exaggerated to the point of absurdity.

Like other conquering historical figures Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, historical evidence for or against Genghis Khan is often scarce and difficult to substantiate, but it isn't too difficult to disseminate the flow of history before or after that particular figure's era. When examining Genghis Khan, we see that his main legacy is of plunder for plunder's sake. He was the ultimate businessman who made a simple request: your booty or your life. Once that "transaction" was established, Genghis Khan and his offsprings organized something more sophisticated to keep the booty flowing into their coffers. There were no ideals of spreading Mongol literature, philosophy, culture, arts, education, religion, or goods to the lands and cities they conquered.

I am taking a rather cynical view here of Genghis Khan and the legacy of his empire, but if you look at it all afar from a macro perspective covering many centuries right before or after his era, it's evident that the Mongol empire has had very little lasting effect except the legacy of plunder and murder on an unprecedented scale. Weatherford too often twists historical facts and opinions alike into something that puts Genghis Khan in an overly positive light. This effort by Weatherford is only too evident as you read page after page of gushing about what amazing feats the Mongols accomplished and how they were the very first to do this and that and how those tactics and inventions were adopted by so and so at a later date by so and so, etc. It's an interesting book but not something I'd recommend for someone looking for a more balanced and unbiased look at Genghis Khan. The largest contiguous land empire in history was hardly the greatest.

Extraordinarily interesting. This is a completely new view of the influence of Genghis Khan on world history. The author brings a great deal of new information, and writes in an very concise way. this book reads like a novel.

This is a well-written book that gives a good overall insight into the life of Genghis Khan and his conquests, but it suffers from an overly positive view of the man and overstatement of the Mongol empire's effect on history and the modern world. Surely GK is one of the world's greatest conquerors and military tacticians ever, but going as far as to say that his empire was a precursor to the Renaissance in Europe (which owes a whole lot more to ancient Rome and Greece) and the subsequent "modern civilization" is going way overboard. Also, the author too easily excuses the unprecedented mass murder, plundering, rape, and destruction that the Mongols left in their wake. These oversights sour what is otherwise a well-researched and well-written book about the great conqueror.

Genghis Khan is certainly a great historical figure with a fascinating story of rising from a despearte situation of being a slave of a rival tribe to uniting all the Mongol tribes and amassing the largest contiguous land empire in the history of mankind. GK was one extremely determined individual with an iron will and extraordinary charisma to lead a nation of illiterate nomads to conquer so many nations and cultures in a relatively short period of time. But in the macro view of world history, the Mongol empire's legacy simply isn't all that great - certainly not comparable to the empires established by Alexander the Great or the Roman Empire.

In the big scheme of things, the Mongols were simply marauders on the grandest scale with Genghis Khan at the helm organizing them into an efficient and disciplined fighting organization. As the book itself makes quite clear, the motives were simply to acquire luxuries like silk and jewelry that the Mongols had never even before seen before they embarked on their initial conquests. Once they tasted this kind of booty, their appetite and the means to acquire even more booty knew no bounds. And if a distant kingdom refused to submit and hand over their goods and treasures, the Mongol cavalry would come and kill every single inhabitant to acquire them. No matter how you look at it, this is all that the Mongol conquests boiled down to. What positive things did the Mongols really have to offer to those that they conquered?

There is no doubt that the effects of the Mongol conquests were felt for centuries to come and the greatest benefit was that they speeded up the trade and cultural exchanges between the West and the Far East. This has been well-documented through the travels of Marco Polo. Still, Weatherford too often extrapolates exchanges like these into something far greater through circumstantial evidence and conjectures. While I tend to agree that Genghis Khan was a pivotal figure in history, the claims of just how far-reaching the effects of his empire were are overwrought and exaggerated to the point of absurdity.

Like other conquering historical figures Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, historical evidence for or against Genghis Khan is often scarce and difficult to substantiate, but it isn't too difficult to disseminate the flow of history before or after that particular figure's era. When examining Genghis Khan, we see that his main legacy is of plunder for plunder's sake. He was the ultimate businessman who made a simple request: your booty or your life. Once that "transaction" was established, Genghis Khan and his offsprings organized something more sophisticated to keep the booty flowing into their coffers. There were no ideals of spreading Mongol literature, philosophy, culture, arts, education, religion, or goods to the lands and cities they conquered.

I am taking a rather cynical view here of Genghis Khan and the legacy of his empire, but if you look at it all afar from a macro perspective covering many centuries right before or after his era, it's evident that the Mongol empire has had very little lasting effect except the legacy of plunder and murder on an unprecedented scale. Weatherford too often twists historical facts and opinions alike into something that puts Genghis Khan in an overly positive light. This effort by Weatherford is only too evident as you read page after page of gushing about what amazing feats the Mongols accomplished and how they were the very first to do this and that and how those tactics and inventions were adopted by so and so at a later date by so and so, etc. It's an interesting book but not something I'd recommend for someone looking for a more balanced and unbiased look at Genghis Khan.

Extraordinarily interesting. This is a completely new view of the influence of Genghis Khan on world history. The author brings a great deal of new information, and writes in an very concise way. this book reads like a novel.

Contemporary Mongolia with it's sparse population and wind swept grassy steppes hardly conjures up images of a world power however that was not always the case. In Jack Weatherford's very compelling "Ghengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" we are treated to the sweeping history of squalid, rat-eating-steppe-dwellers raising themselves up, one broken neck at a time, to become the conquering masters of much of Asia, the Middle East and banging on the gates of Europe. However, to judge from many of the previous reviewers of this book he doesn't have his facts in order. Part of my attraction to this book was the fact that I knew nothing about the history of Mongolia nor much(or nothing?)about the legendary Khan himself. Sorting out the Mongolian names and tribal relationships took some doing, rather like a Russian novel, but I was willing. Mr. Weatherford does have a somewhat dry academic style of writing but the visceral, astonishing and outrageous goings on in Genghis' rise to power and beyond quite made up for it. And, he is a good storyteller. As to the accuracy of certain elements of the history I have no idea but as to the general historical sweep of conquest I think there's little doubt nor to the legacy of Khubilai, the fascinating leader who follows him. Mr. Weatherford explores the interesting demonization of the Mongols by the West and the diminution of their achievements as they advanced across the planet with their massive herds of horses, cattle and sheep, pressing into their service all of the best the conquered nations had to offer. The telling of this revisionist history is, I guess, like the Khan himself contoversial but reading it did make me long for a trip to Mongolia to discover the windswept, lonely steppes where the scrawny boy Temujin, as if by the hand of magic, becomes an awesome conquerer again and again and again.

Genghis Khan sure has gotten a bad rap. He seems to be known primarily as a medieval barbaric marauder, at least that was my impression in my youth and even my more nuanced understanding before reading this book was far distant from the truth. This book, based partly on materials discovered long ago but translated only recently, paints the picture of an extremely enlightened world leader and brilliant tactician who was able to conquer more land and peoples than anyone in world history, and then set up an administration that, while short-lived, was as advanced as any to that point in history.

It really is a fascinating story of someone born to less than nothing in the middle of nowhere, family torn apart by marauders, who grows up to be the most powerful man in the world through shear force of will, strength, and intellect. Through a series of political and personally brave steps he came to have the control of a fairly large force, and then through brilliant ad-hoc maneuvers tailored to each situation, was able to take over central Asia, most of China, the middle east, and eventually most of Europe.

More fascinating still is that his administration of this empire was extremely enlightened and mostly beneficial to the conquered lands, assuming they cooperated. If they did not surrender to the attacks or sieges, they were treated most cruelly and barbarically, and mostly wiped out. If they did not cooperate during the occupation and new administration they were also put down quickly. But if they did, they accrued the benefits of a vast trading empire, extremely modern ideas like freedom of religion, and general prosperity and self-rule.

The first half of the book is a bio of Genghis. The second half tells the story of the empire's continued rise and plateau after his death, and its quick crumbling not long after due to squabbling and weakness among his heirs (including Kublai, who was a pretty strong leader but was flawed and left no succession). I think the third generation, Genghis' grandsons, were as far as it ever got before the local forces took back over and the empire's infrastructure crumbled abruptly.

In addition to being fascinating history, Weatherford writes in an entertaining, accessible, memorable style. Well worth reading.

I absolutely loved this book. It was a really refreshing perspective on the real impact of the Mongol empire in today's world, excellent narrative and well documented account of the development of the Khan himself from his childhood to the king of the largest empire in history and the multiple Leadership examples that many of us can benefit from, as well as the evidence of his strategy brilliance and natural political abilities... changed my view of the Khan and sparked more curiosity and passion to learn about this mis-understood character of history! wonderful book

I purchased this book expecting a dry historical review of this mythical figure. Boy, was I wrong! The author writes in such a beautiful style that he pulls the reader into the world of Genghis Khan, without sacrificing historical facts. You find yourself living in Mongolia in the 12th and 13th centuries, traveling thousands of miles with the Khan, watching the empire grow and slowly fall apart. It is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I highly recommend it not only for its educational value but for its absorbing narrative. Beautifully written!

Nomads and non-European conquerors do not fare well at the hands of Western historians. Genghis Khan fares about the worst of all. Weatherford sets the record straight. Genghis and his Mongol conquests were enormous and pieces of the empire he established endured in one form or another for seven centuries, the final coup de grace being the English outster of the Moguls in India in the 19th century. Rather than being a simple-minded raider the author portrays Genghis as a man ahead of his time in many ways: the art and science of war, religous tolerance, the creation of a meritocracy, and the overthrow of aristocracy. That Genghis Khan was brutal and violent is also brought out although the Mongols could hardly have been more cruel than their contemporaries in Medieval Europe, the Crusaders.

The author lived for years in Mongolia while writing this book and many of the details reveal his deep and sympathetic views on Mongol history and the people. Only about one half of the book is about Genghis himself, focusing on his traumatic childhood and slow rise to power as the head of a coalition of nomadic tribes rather than his whirlwind conquests. And unequalled conquests they were! The empire of the Mongols was larger than any in history reaching from Korea to the gates of Vienna. Death was the only setback Genghis ever suffered in his ambitions -- although the Mongols wisely decided against further conquests in Europe because they realized their steppe and cavalry tactics were not suited to forested country.

The book continues after the death of Genghis to tell the story of of division and fragmentation as the successors of Genghis, his sons and grandsons, contend over the enormous breadth of the empire. The author tells a good story, especially in the early going where his own personal experiences and research bring light on the character of Mongolia and the culture into which a poor child who became Genghis Khan was born. It's a brief book so don't expect too much analysis of the impact of the Mongols on the peoples they conquered or details of their strategy, tactics, and battle victories.

Genghis Khan was perhaps the greatest conqueror of history, but the details of his life are little known. This book will give you a multi-dimensional portrait of the man, more favorable than most, and help dispel the notion that the Mongols were mere raiders of little importance.

Smallchief

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I discovered a great deal about the Mongols and I believe that the author proves his basic case that the Mongol Empire provided an unprecedented flow of goods and ideas between East and West.

Unfortunately, the author is so enthusiastic about promoting the achievements of the Mongols that he often ventures into hyperbole, and worse, miss-statements of fact, especially about the histories of the nations he is comparing to the Mongols. This undercuts his credibility.

Some examples:

The author's claims that the Mongol invasions introduced wearing trousers in battle to the West. In fact, trousers were popular among the Celts (including the Britons) for thousands of years, as they were among invading "barbarians" such as Goths and the Parthians. The Greeks and Romans wore kilts, but many of their neighbors wore trousers long before the Mongols.

The author says that in World War II, the Red Army was imitating the Mongol tactic of feigned retreat when they "lured" the German army deep into Russia to destroy it. In fact, Stalin repeatedly ordered his generals to stand fast and not give an inch. The reason the Red Army repeatedly fell back was because they were repeatedly beaten. This is not an esoteric point. How could a professor writing history on a global scale not know this?

The author says that the last Mogul Emperor's sons were executed in India so that Queen Victoria could take the Imperial title. This is just plain silly. The Emperor himself was sent into exile with other family members. His sons were executed for their purported roles in the Sepoy Rebellion as part of a bloody reprisal. There is no evidence that the motivation for this was to clear the way for Queen Victoria to assume the imperial title -- 20 years later.

There are so many more examples of this kind of factual error and false analogy that at times the book feels more like an overheated term paper by a sophomore stretching a point than the product of a learned professor. Such errors make me wonder how much I should trust the author's other pronouncements in areas that I'm not so familiar with.

The fact that the author is also prone to needlessly repeat himself doesnt help his case. He cites the fact that his source is the "Secret History of the Mongols" so often that I felt like I should be reading that book instead. Maybe I will

I first encountered stories about the Golden Horde and the 13th century Mongol domination of the Russian principalities during my graduate studies on Russian history. Reflecting on how Russia, China, Turkey, Persia and many of the nations of the Arab world reached the 20th century in an apparently underdeveloped, and authoritarian, state, relative to the nations of Western Europe, I often thought that this could be traced back to the unfortunate intercession of the Mongols in each of these nations history 700 years ago.

So, like most other reviewers and readers of this fascinating book, I was captivated by the premise of this book - that the Mongols could take credit for the making of the modern world as we know it - and found the detailed, almost intimate portrayal of Genghis Khan revelatory and satisfying. But, I still don't buy the premise. Clearly, nations or nation-states like Novgorod, Korea, China, Turkey and Persia did NOT need to have their treasuries looted, their aristocracies slaughtered and their skilled artisans and laborers kidnapped back to East Asia. These were not beneficial developments for any of the survivors left behind, nor for the many thousands slain under the Mongol onslaught. The Mongol Empire is here in Weatherford's book humanized, as is its founder, Genghis Khan, and from whatever this mysterious Secret History of the Mongols actually is and says, we modern readers can better understand the motivation, thoughts, and impulses that gave the world the strange historical hiccup of steppe nomads morphing into near-global Empire and
then back again into a small nation of modest consequence.

Particularly helpful to learn was how the great khan suffered as a boy -losing his father through intertribal squabbles centering over wife-stealing - and the difficulties and challenges of his youth. These passages explain the motivations behind Temujin's desire to fight his rivals, unite the various steppe tribes, end the tradition of bride stealing and establish a merit-based system of advancement, rather than family-based claims to power. Not that this latter element survived his death, of course.

Weatherford also details the Khan's impulse to unite the world as he knew it under Mongol rule, in sometimes gruesome detail. Rolling up captured leaders, dethroned regents or aristocrats in carpets and then stomping them to death while in celebratory excess makes one pause at the horror, on the small scale, let alone the savage treatment of conquered cities or states, that refused to kneel down to the Mongols.

Reading this excellent biography-slash-history in the 21st century, and with the understanding of human behavior that we have now - that mankind has always warred against itself (and very likely always will) and spread out into adjoining lands, like a virus looking for a new host - it is still infuriating to read the brutal exploits of a band of warriors who could not live and let live peoples thousands of miles away from them who had originally had little or no knowledge of these steppe nomads, let alone contact.

Weatherford lavishes what seems like salutory praise on these mass murderers, bringing his readers along for a ride that extols their virtues, but he also, perhaps, inadvertenly reveals just how banal and avaricious - and how so very like every other peoples before or after them - the Mongols were, when he describes the opulent booty stockpiled in Karakorum, which bred more lust for more booty. Many of their campaigns were waged with the intent of bringing back more riches for those back home greedily awaiting the caravans of looted & destroyed lives, cities and civilizations.

Overall, this book is an indispensible work, a must-read, that sheds a balanced light into the real person behind Genghis Khan and his family. But this is a history that makes one thankful that indolence, time and dissipation of the warrior steppe ways brought about an ensuing half millenium of continuing desuetude to a peoples who embody all that continues to be unappealing about ourselves in our worse moments.

As Strunk and White advise in the classic guide to writing, _The Elements of Style_, "Do not overstate. When you overstate, readers will be instantly on guard, and everything that has preceded your overstatement as well as everything that follows it will be suspect in their minds because they have lost confidence in your judgment or your poise."

I wanted to like this book, because I find Genghis Khan and his empire to be fascinating, and yet the author so completely overstates the significance of the Mongols that he loses all credibility, and pollutes an otherwise highly readable and interesting set of facts with so much fiction that it is often difficult to distinguish the two. For example, he claims in the introduction that the Mongols had founded the first unified nations of Korea and China, apparently ignorant of the fact that Korea had been unified since AD 668, and that China was first unified by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Similarly, he states on p. 237 that "[the Renaissance] was not the ancient world of Greece and Rome being reborn: It was the Mongol Empire, picked up, transferred, and adapted by the Europeans to their own needs and culture." Although the evidence for Greek and Roman influence on the Renaissance is overwhelming, the evidence for Mongol influence is flimsy at best. The more outsized the claim, the less evidence the author seems to provide.

Furthermore, he tries to give the Mongols credit for inspiring Renaissance art, which he calls a hybrid of Eastern and Western styles; he gives the Mongols credit for disseminating Arabic and Indian mathematics (the Arabs themselves had disseminated Indian mathematics throughout the civilized world, long before the Mongols); he gives the Mongols credit for introducing the compass to the West (the compass was mentioned in Alexander Neckham's De Naturis Rerum, written in 1190, before Genghis Khan had even ventured out of Mongolia); and he gives the Mongols credit for inventing the Silk Road, which had already existed for thousands of years.

What the book desperately needs are a fact-checker and responsible editor to curb the author's literary excesses. The author clearly sympathizes with the Mongols and wants to promote their case as responsible bearers of civilization. His biases are so blinding, that he frequently makes irrelevant comparisons to the worst excesses of the Catholic Inquisition to try to justify the mass slaughter of the Mongols, and even tries to deny the scale of Mongol genocides altogether, lamely asserting (p. 118), "It would be physically difficult to slaughter that many cows or pigs, which wait passively for their turn. Overall, those who were supposedly slaughtered outnumber the Mongols by ratios of up to fifty to one. The people could have merely run away, and the Mongols would not have been able to stop them." The gigantic flaw in logic is that the Mongols never faced odds of 50-to-1 at any one moment, but rather wiped out city after city in a process that took many years. His claim the the people could "have merely run away" is laughable, given his constant reminders that the Mongol cavalry were the fastest and most efficient army of the day. He could just as easily have applied the same ludicrous argument to any other historical genocide in order to deny their scale and seriousness.

I still like the subject of Genghis Khan, and Weatherford has whetted my appetite: I may eventually pick up one of the other, more serious and scholarly books on the topic. However, I will never again make the mistake of reading anything written by Mr. Weatherford.

This book is a great treat - it dispells the lies Western "civilization" tells about Genghis Kahn, it explains the first globalization, it explains why the Forbidden City in Beijing is the most beautiful and humane of royal palaces, and it gives us some very useful background for how to deal with the Middle East and world peace today. All this, and it's well-written, erudite, and sent me back to Coleridege: In Xanadu did Kubla Khan/A stately pleasure-dome decree..." It plays upon so many connections: e.g., the recent discovery that over 1.6 million people in Europe and Asia carry Genghis' DNA. My thought after reading the book: is that all?

An in depth look at a truly world figure. I marveled at the extent and complexity of the Mongol empire and was fascinated by how well the author developed the character each Mongol ruler.

Before I read this book I always thought of Ghengis Khan as the ultimate bad guy--him and Attila the Hun! This book claims quite the contrary to be the actual story, and it is a great one.
The author is quite obviously very enthusiastic about his subject- and portrays the man of Ghengis Khan as a great leader and a founder of civilization. The book is an extraordinary history of a man,and an era and you will learn that both had amazing impact on the world they left behind. I wish this book were required reading for high school students--it is vastly educational and is a compelling, fun read. This is the type of book that could make a life-long learner out of almost anyone.

This is a compact and well written account of the life, times and legacy of Genghis Khan. The author has succeeded in presenting a revisionist but cogent history that counters the common misconception of Genghis and his murderous Mongol hordes. You need not be a student of history to enjoy this thought provoking tome. It reads and lingers like a good novel.

Revisionist histories are always fairly seductive--the whole point of them is to capitalize on your ignorance by taking what you think you know and turning it inside out in a kind of intellectual magic trick. That's certainly what Weatherford intends in taking a fresh look at the Mongol Empire, which will likely live forever as the largest land empire in history. He set out to travel its routes and wander its geography in the company of both eminent scholars and everyday herdsmen in an attempt to try and get into the heads of Genghis Khan and his hordes. His research fortuitously coincided with the appearance of the first complete English translations of the "Secret History of the Mongol Empire". This anonymous contemporary history was commissioned by Genghis' descendants and as a primary source, sheds much-needed light on the inner workings of the empire.

This is the first book for the general reader which draws upon the "Secret History" and as such, promises a host of surprises as Weatherford weaves episodes from it with other historical accounts of the Mongol conquests and his own travels. Throughout he is keen to paint the Mongols as a much more civilized and innovative empire than conventional wisdom would have it. For example, in an early form of globalization, they created systematic free trade routes that greatly accelerated the movement of trade and ideas -- and per the law of unintended consequences, the plague. Despite the vast caravans of loot that made its way back to the homeland, Genghis was a firm believer in living the simple life (a belief that was not fully embraced his progeny, ultimately leading to their undoing). Among other things, the Mongols abolished aristocracies in favor of meritocracy, created an imperial lingua franca, instituted paper money, codified law, and enforced religious freedom on an unparalleled scale. Indeed, it was somewhat stunning to learn that most of Genghis's descendents were (at least nominally) Christians.

To be sure, as invaders they offered a rather bleak choice: surrender or die. However, unlike most of those they conquered, the Mongols found torture an anathema and created the concept of diplomatic immunity. Much of Weatherford's story of their innovation is told on the battlefield, as they leveraged both tactical genius and technology to defeat what were often much larger armies. The military history never gets too arcane, and Weatherford is good at explaining tactics and technicalities to the general reader in an entertaining way. Who knew the Mongols were masters of both the siege engine and gunpowder, or that they didn't particularly care for hand to hand combat? Interestingly, conquered subjects were absorbed into the empire with varying degrees of self-rule, and any craftspeople or intellectuals with useful skills or knowledge were sought out and sent back to the homeland in a precursor to today's corporate "best practices" strategies.

On the whole, this is a very brisk and readable broad account of Genghis's life and his empire, although as with all revisionist histories, it should be taken with a grain of salt. Doubtless, those with expertise in 13th and 14th century world history would find their own flaws with Weatherford's spin.

I recently made a discovery while browsing through a bookstore. With no intentions of buying the book I read the first few pages. Once I had read the introduction taken from a 1989 story in the Washington Post I was hooked. The author Jack Weatherford is a professor of anthropology in Minnesota and has done a terrific job of creating an interesting read. Once you start the read it is hard to stop. As part of his research he spent time in Khan's former homeland of Mongolia doing in depth studies, interviews, research, and even camping on the steppes. He has included many references, notes, and comments at the end of this 300 page book including a glossary of Mongol terms.

When one thinks of great historical figures, the Mongols and Genghis Khan are not the first names that pop into your mind. But here is a boy, raised in dire poverty and living right on the edge of survival in central Asia approximately 800 years ago, that somehow survives, and then who rose from insignificance to become a leader of the region. He started a family that conquered most of Asia from Hungary to Korea, from India and China to Russia and south to Israel - and all areas between, and left huge foot prints that lasted hundreds of years in an area of the globe where most people (60%) of the earth lived. He did this with a small group of peoples - the Mongols - and they became the masters of all they could find. It is sort of similar to someone conquering Asia and Europe with the Swiss army, and then changing the histories of these vast regions forever. He amalgamated Russia and China from a series of provinces, created Korea, among other things, and left in place an organization that lasted over 200 years.

Khan and his sons succeeded through a combination of mobile forces, quick action, and later propaganda. Many peoples when hearing that they were coming simply surrendered. The Mongols were known as a small tribe of scavengers on the northern Asian steppes near the Siberia forests, and are descendents of the Huns that had attacked Rome. "Hunting, trading, herding, and fighting formed a seamless web of subsistence". The author tries to paint a very detailed picture in the format of a semi-biographical novel all in chronological order that must contain a certain amount of fiction to fill in all the biographical details (see Secret History reference in the book). But it all seems realistic and is compelling reading.

The book tells the story of the rise to power, seemingly year by year, battle by battle. At age 48 he controls Mongolia, but then with a change of power in Beijing, they (the Jurched) demand that he show submission to their power. That was not in his nature. Instead, he gathered his forces, crossed the vast Gobi region and invaded in groups of 10,000 men (like mobile divisions). The men took no "honor in fighting; they found honor in winning". Starting in 1211 it took him three years to reach the walls of Zhongdu (Beijing). Once that region was conquered he returned to Mongolia very wealthy and was content to stay there. But as his trade and other activities increased, the reach of the Mongols expanded and encountered hostile neighbors. When he sent friendly commercial travelers westward loaded with commercial goods, they were met with death by their unsuspecting neighbors - the Khwarizm campaign (Kazakhstan). The neighbors did not appreciate the retribution that would be unleashed by their actions. Incensed by their deeds, Khan invaded killing their soldiers and aristocrats, and then running the societies according to his own laws.

Next he tried to pass his holdings onto his sons. But when they were divided and quarreling, so he sent them out to conquer new areas covering much of Asia and Europe. The story continues on into the middle of the 14th century and the great plague when the role of the Mongols diminished.

We can all learn a lot by reading this book including part of Khan's philosophy, i.e. you can conquer an army by force but one can only win a nation by winning the hearts and minds of the people - to paraphrase. It still seems to be applicable.

Excellent book. Five stars.

I agree with much of what "Shalom Freedom" had to say, although I wouldn't put it into the same modern political terms. This is a fast and entertaining read, and Weatherford provides a lot of insight into a number of personalities, not just that of Jenghiz/Genghis/Jinghis/whatever Khan. I approached this book as something of an entry into reading more about the Mongols, having only peripheral knowledge from reading about other peoples and periods. It was a good choice, because it's well-written and quite accessible. It traces through three-plus generations of the dynasty with a great deal of aplomb and obvious affection for the subject. My one misgiving is that it seems to me that Weatherford lets his affection for the subject lead him into the dangerous territory of overpraising the people about whom he's writing. I don't know enough to contradict actual facts, and I'm sure he's got most of them right, but just going on the material in the book, Weatherford's tone rings too strongly of, "sure, he killed lots of people, often innocent civilians, and often in incredibly cruel ways, but hey, he created a civilization and modernized his people, so he's a net plus!" While too often history can be written using a much too detached and faux-neutral tone, I think the pendulum might have swung a wee bit too far in the other direction on these pages.

But when all is said and done, if you're interested in Genghis and the Mongols, this is a quick and fun read with a lot of interesting information.

This book on readibility gets top marks. Its narrative power is truly great. Weatherford uses his rich personal knowledge of Mongolia, his deep reading of whatever sources are available, and his wide general historical knowledge to weave a fascinating tale, the story of the world's greatest conqueror. Unfortunately as Niall Ferguson and others report he prior to Mao was also the greatest mass- murdererer in human history. This book has two- hundred seventy pages , just imagine what it would have been the size of the book which gave one page to every one of the estimated thirty- eight million human being his forces killed.
Weatherford claims that Ghengis Khan's military policy was largely a humane one. He says that Ghengis Khan was interested in efficient conquest, that he ordinarily gave his foes a chance to surrender, that he did not torture and maim his opponents. But against this are accounts of vast pillages and rapes performed by the Mongol hordes. The fear and hatred peoples of many areas such as Ukraine, Poland, Hungry , Turkey have for the Mongols still today are no doubt related to this. It is not therefore surprising that the most well- known quotation we have about Genghis Khan is a recipe for his own happiness but not for those subject to his conquest.

"The greatest pleasure of a man is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters."

This is again not exactly what those subject to his 'progressive methods' might consider a formula for their own happiness. i.e. It may not be wrong after all to think that the traditional picture of Genghis Khan is a little closer to the truth than Weatherford's enlightened benefactor and expediter of international commerce. He most often murdered the elites and aristocracies of the places he conquered. Perhaps this makes him a neo- Marxian hero but it certainly does not suggest his place in a higher spiritual world of compassion and kindness.
Weatherford does his best to make his great hero humane. And the story of his restraint and forbidding himself any sign of emotion upon learning of the death on the battlefield of his most beloved grandson Mulagu is a gripping one. Yet however 'humane' the great Khan may appear when for instance adjudicating between his quarreling sons , the fact remains that he created a vast and efficient death- machine. And that he set a scorched earth policy which places him surely among Mankind's greatest evildoers.
Weatherford may love him and they may think him a hero in Mongolia. But the enormous pain and destruction he brought to so many peoples mean he is not deserving the kind of admiration which pervades Weatherford 's narrative.

I bought this book to read during my 20-day early summer holiday. I have just finished reading the book here in Konya, Turkey, the capital of the Saljuqs of Rum. I rarely write reviews of the books I read, but with Prof. Weatherford's thrilling and informative work, I must make an exception. For years I have tried to understand the complexities of central Asian history; this one book has now put everything into perspective for me. This gifted writer deserves credit for reinstating the Great Khan after so many years of unwarrented malignment. The scope of the book is also of truly epic proportions: an empire encompassing lands from the borders of Poland to Korea and from Egypt to Japan. This well-researched book of revisionist history should be made required reading for all history, fine arts, science, sociology, political science and literature majors ... it's that important a book! Personally, I've been encouraged to study the unique Phagspa script as a tangeable means for further understanding the enormous legacy of Genghis Khan.

I have to give Weatherford credit for reviving the reputation of the much maligned Mongols. His account was a great fast-paced, exciting read. I especially liked the last two chapters which covered the global awakening that the Mongols ushered in (basically linking Eurasia through trade routes and anticipating Europe's Renaissance) and the bubonic plague (which basically undid the work of the prior chapter).

My one complaint is that Weatherford is a bit too obviously biased against Christianity, and will often make non-sequitor asides about how the medieval church in Europe was intolerant, etc, etc. (Of course, we all have our biases, but Weatherford is a bit too obviously in the secularist camp.)

I initially expected a biography of Ghanghis han but this work pleased me by being much more.

In addition to chronicling the life of the great Ghanghis Khan and his almost impossible rise to power it also gave a wonderful overview of the Mongol tactics of conquest, the philosophy of empire administration, and internal struggle.

It also covered the period between Ghenghis and his grandson Khubilai. Khubilai's administration of the empire, and its eventual dispersion.

One could also see the lasting effects of the Mongol empire on both the European cultures -- especially where the Renaissance comes in, and the isolation of the Asian nations.

It packs all this into a very readable 270 pages.

While I have read a lot of history, I had not explored the Mongol empire period at all and now have a renewed appreciation for the genius of Ghenghis Khan and a newfound respect for the Mongol worldview.

Highly recommended.

This is a balanced look at the Mongols and the legacy of Genghis Khan. It writes some historical wrongs and also teachs the reader about one of the most fascinating empires ever. I am not a professor or scholar, I am however a history lover. This is one of those books that you don't want to end. I really did enjoy it and I will be seeking out more from this author.

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 bu