Genghis Khan by Jack Weatherford

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World is a history book written by Jack Weatherford, Dewitt Wallace Professor of Anthropology at Macalester College. The book tells the story of Genghis Khan’s life, influence, and legacy, through his successors to the present day. It focuses on a number of recently unearthed and translated historical texts that, in centuries past, were unavailable, such as the Secret History of the Mongols.

Weatherford argues that the Mongol Empire was the impetus for the European Age of Discovery. Europeans two centuries later were trying to reclaim the lucrative global trade that was lost when the Mongol Empire collapsed. Weatherford attributes the following to Genghis Khan’s rule: Unprecedented religious tolerance.

The book covers the rise of Genghis Khan and the unification of Mongolia. Weatherford provides the reader with a very good sense of the rise of Genghis Khan to power and how the Mongols viewed warfare, which is to say, honor was not in the methods of war, but rather in gaining victory. Furthermore, Weatherford does a splendid job of illustrating that Genghis Khan was not a born military genius, a label that is often and understandably applied to the Mongol leader, but rather he learned from his mistakes and then applied the lessons.

What I Liked

Soild, accessible, readable history book.

What I Did Not Like

Nothing – great book.