Genghis Khan: Life, Death, and Resurrection

A history of the great conqueror and his times and the search for his grave and relics

John Man's Genghis Khan is a recent history of Genghis Khan, perhaps the greatest conqueror the world has ever known. It is the life story of a poor, orphaned, Mongol boy who over a period of some 40 years during the 13th century unified the many quarreling Tartar tribes of Mongolia and converted them into the most powerful military machine in history until the advent of gun powder. His Mongol armies featuring great mobility and the fire power of the compound bow swept across China, the Middle East, to Poland and Hungary in the west. Often out numbered his forces struck with devastating force defeating all opponents. Only his death and that of his successor prevented the possible Mongol conquest of Western Europe which would have had no unity or power to halt them at the time. His conquests entailed perhaps the greatest slaughter of people until the advent of the holocaust and World War II. A good portion of the author's book describes his travels in modern Mongolia in search of the legacies of the great khan who briefly ruled from Beijing to Budapest.

Overall the book was good, just not exactly what I had in mind

Overall the book was good and a quick read.

This book spent a lot of chapters discussing Genghis Khan's impact on modern day Mongolia and China and his status as a religious figure in the former. All of which was new to me and interesting, but that was not exactly what I was looking for when I bought the book. I was much more interested in learning about Genghis the conquerer, which ended up being the shortest parts of the book.

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.