Customer Reviews:
 Excellent October 13, 2008
I have little to add to most of the glowing reviews here. I'll just say that this is an excellent lay history text that is very engaging. One could perhaps level the accusation that it may seem "revisionist" or that in some areas it presents an overly rosey vision of the Mongols. Personally, I don't believe this to be the case, it seems well balanced and does a good job of putting the Mongols' actions in the context of the times.
Exceptional Scholarship; Exceptional Interpretation September 16, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
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Mongols had the power...to impose new international systems of technology, agriculture, and knowledge that superseded the predilections or prejudices of any single civilization and in so doing, they broke the monopoly on thought exercised by local elites."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.
A MUST READ August 29, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
What a book! August 19, 2008
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.
Genghis Kahn as you never knew him July 20, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
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