« Can't Quote the AP | Main | Conditional Engagement » The Wrath of Khan22 Jun 2008 09:10 am Mongol, a Russian-directed Mongolian-language film about the early life of Genghis Khan that I saw Friday night is kinda weird but also kinda awesome. In the "weird" drawer, it's a very long movie and yet ends with the unification of Mongolia -- all the serious conquering is left for a sequel. But it's awesome enough that I'd definitely go see a sequel. It also made me a bit interested in the actual history of the period. Are there books on the subject that people would recommend? Comments (44)
For Genghis's early life the only real source is The Secret History of the Mongols, (Paul Kahn has a translation out) and things that draw from it The History of the Mongol Conquests by J. J. Saunders Secret History is by far the best. though. Weatherford is not very good at all. If you want to get more analytical Thomas Allsen's stuff is very good 
I also enjoyed Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. It was recommended by a relative (who has a degree in anthropology) and I liked it so much I bought a copy for my sister. If you like Asian Kung Fu series than The Story of the Condor Heroes is pretty good. It's on various websites such as Crunchy Roll.
I read "Gengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World". It was pretty good, and I'd certainly recommend it for someone interested in the period. The book covers not just the life of Genghis but his sons and grandsons (some of whom were more successful in many respects), their conquests and techniques.
John Man's Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection is a pretty easy read, dealing with Genghis's life and its political significance in modern China and Mongolia. Pointless but excellent sample quote: "To an etymologist, Rupert Murdoch is the Genghis Khan of the tabloids."
Attila the Hun had a better nickname - The Scourge of God.
From an undergraduate course I took about 20 years ago: Morgan, The Mongols.
Harold Lamb wrote a very good children's book: Genghis Khan and the Mongol Horde. Historically accurate, short and romantic.
Rene Grousset's The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia is a classic, although I'll admit to having only read bits and pieces. It might also have interest for a philosophy major: Deleuze and and Guattari's writing on nomadism (in A Thousand Plateaus) was partially a negative response to Grousset. Grousset isn't current, but any other later serious history is almost certain to bear its mark.
Can't speak to proper historical writing, but there's some great travel writing on the surrounding region. Fitzroy McLean's travel books are great for this sort of thing, with quite a bit of historical material. The Back of Beyond covers Mongolia--out of print, but great if you can find it. Colin Thubron's Lost Heart of Asia nicely glosses quite a bit of the more obscure regional history (without hitting Mongolia directly). The Travels of Marco Polo covers Mongol occupied China, and is a great read. Yes, Attila had a cooler nickname. Leveled fewer cities, though. Depends what you want in a tyrant.
Joe, at the same time, it wasn't from Temujin that we have the cultural memory of skull pyramids. Those are from that lovable conqueror Timur Lenk (Tamerlane)
Greg--quite right. Had meant to mention him. Timur is also a tyrant's tyrant. Witness the personality cult Uzkek dictator Islam Karimov has built around him.
I'd also put the movie in the weird/awesome drawer -- I thought it was great while also falling asleep briefly during it. (Same thing with "Wings of Desire," in a less violent way, of course.)
If you like historical novels, Connor Iggulden now has a series going on the life and times off Genghis Khan. He is now up to two books in the series ( "Birth of an Empire) and "Lords of the Bow") He is an excellent, entertaining writer who does admittedly take a few liberties with history. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=iggulden&x=0&y=0
Mongolists all consider Thomas Allsen the best person in the field today, though his work is fairly specialized. His secret is that he is a fluent reader of both Chinese and Persian, as opposed to just one of the two or Russian as most Mongolists are. Grousset's work is dated, but still used as an undergraduate text, as it has never really been superceded as a comprehensive treatment. I considered writing about the social consequences of the 1258 fall of Baghdad for my dissertation topic.
There was a recentish discussion of Genghis Khan on Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time. As is often the case, it's likely to feel less satisfying to those who know the topic, but it's a decent primer before hitting the books.
David Morgan's The Mongols from the Peoples of Europe (!) series is a good introduction.
No recommended readings, but a caution on the movie: a Mongolian colleague at the medical university where we work was distinctly not impressed with the accuracy of the film. This scientist, and former military officer, is pretty gung-ho (is that a mixed metaphor in this case?) about All Things Mongolian, but he said that the movie was very heavily fictionalized. Given that any film based on such long-ago events has to have a fair amount of created material to fill in gaps in the straight historical record, I took his comments to mean that the film even got many of the known facts wrong -- at least as they are understood by Mongolians themselves. My friend's overall reaction to the films was an emphatic, "meh!" On a related note, I saw a documentary not long ago (sorry, can't recall where) that a large-scale analysis of Mongolians' genetic markers revealed that a large proportion of the entire population -- about 21%, IIRC -- is descended from a singe 12th/13th century male ancestor. I guess Mel Brooks was right in History of the World, Part 1 -- it's good to be the king.
In the "weird" drawer, it's a very long movie and yet ends with the unification of Mongolia -- all the serious conquering is left for a sequel. Unprovoked conquests of foreign lands and people, along with the terrorism/psychological warfare employed (summary execution of noncombatants, pils of skulls, rapes) to accomplish that probably make the story a less-rousing one for a modern audience than one about unifying one's own bickering, infighting nation.
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World: http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Khan-Making-Modern-World/dp/0609610627
Uh, Swan? Greg already pointed out that the pyramid of skulls guy was Tamerlane (AKA Timur and half a dozen other variations). Tamerlane claimed to be a descendant of Genghis Khan, but there isn't actually any evidence that he was. Don't get me wrong, Genghis wasn't exactly a friendly fellow and he certainly used psychological warfare himself. But let's not blame him for things he didn't do... By the way, Alan, what's wrong with the Weatherford book? I think he overstated Genghis Khan's contributions to western civilization, but I don't know the history well enough to tell if he got it right.
I'm still waiting for the Braveheart sequel. The story of Robert the Bruce is every bit as exciting. It's even got a murder in a church.
weatherford is definitely on the pro-genghis khan side of things. but if you keep that in mind i don't think that it's a bad popular introduction. all the other recs are good too. for novelization i enjoyed pamela sargent's "ruler of the sky."
Mwg, Weatherford is a good read, but I think he wildly overdoes the "creation of the modern world" thing. Plus the book is riddled with errors, so if you find anything interesting in it you have to go check somewhere else to see if it is true. There is a review here http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=109181119467183
A quote on Weatherford from David Morgan: "Jack Weatherford, a writer for whom the Mongols can do little wrong, does not deny the massacres, but argues (and there is something in this) that the Mongols should at least be given credit for only killing, and not previously torturing, their victims."
Harold Lamb's 1927 book GENGHIS KHAN, EMPEROR OF ALL MEN is a good narrative history, pretty light on analysis but heavy on detail and as someone above said, decidedly romantic. A great intro to the subject, though.
Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe, vol III has one chapter on Mongolia, and his recommended reading page at the back will usually have some good suggestions.
What religion was Tamerlane, Emir of Samarkand again? And what did he use to justify his barbarism and genocide?
Tamerlane was a Muslim, as were most of his victims. In particular, he was close to certain Turkic Sufis. His banner was restoration of the dynasty of Genghis Khan, which had come to have an almost divine status to the peoples of Central Asia regardless of religion.
I enjoyed John Man's book (titled simply 'Genghis Khan') very much. It has some interesting material on how the myth of Genghis Khan is now being resurrected and exploited, for both political and religious reasons, in China and Mongolia.
Alan, thanks for the link. I'll probably be looking into the topic a bit more...
I recommend Stephen Herek's 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure."
Mr. Ulrich, My question was rhetorical, and somewhat sarcastic. I knew quite well that Tamerlane was a Muslim. In point of fact while he may have invoked the banner of Chinggis Khan, the bulk of his considerable slaughter and genocide was committed in the name of exterminating the infidel. "Washing the sword of Islam in the blood of the Hindu idolaters" and so forth. Thanks to the Islamophilia on Mr. Yglesias' blog, one will not hear inconvenient facts like these too often.
If you would like the best fictional read, "The Earth Is the Lord's" by Taylor Caldwell was one of the most interesting books I've read. http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Lords-Tale-Rise-Genghis/dp/0884111547 The second most interesting, although the Mongols were a side issue, is Robert Shea's "Shike" trilogy, which includes trips by Japanese samurai to China under attack by the Mongols as well as the Mongol invasion of Japan that was destroyed by a typhoon. Fictional, but roughly based on historical fact.
I'm pretty sure the movie isn't Russian. I read, when it was nominated for an oscar, that it was Kazakh. As in Borat's "home" country.
I saw it Saturday afternoon. I thought it should've been called "Steppe by Steppe."
Look at IMDB. The movie's not Russian (I don't think anybody said it was), but the director is. His name is Sergei Bodrov. IMDB also lists the "Country" as Germany, Kazakhstan and Russia--presumably parts of it were filmed in each one. I can't imagine a lot of it was filmed in Germany, but you never know. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416044/
Interview here of the ethnic Russian director, who laughed through Borat but is troubled by it, and seems disinclined to make the sequel for Mongol. Well, if it's a hit perhaps he'll change his mind.
I would definitely recommend the section on Genghis Khan in B.H. Liddell Hart's Great Captains Unveiled.
http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Horsemen-Mongol-Invasion-Europe/dp/0785815678 A nice, shorter book on Mongolian military tactics and campaigns. I recall some especially interesting bits on Genghis Khan's initial contacts with Persia and China. His attempts at diplomacy and trade were rebuffed by folks who considered him to be unsuitably barbaric and/or a non believer. Which is not to say that anyone "had it coming" but those who underestimated the Great Khan came to regret it.
Hector- I knew your question was meant that way, but decided to answer it anyway. Actually, most of Tamerlane's wars were against other Muslim states. His restoration of Genghis Khan's legacy was far more important than his religion. He married several descendants of Genghis Khan, and styled himself one. His methods of warfare were also derived from the steppe, completely ignoring Islamic law on the subject.
I second the recommendation of the Devil's Horsemen. I read this book about 20 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.
A preview of The History and the Life of Chinggis Khan: The Secret History of the Mongols is available at Google Books.
>books on the subject that people would recommend? I read Jeremiah Curtin's The Mongols a while back and thought it was a fine historical overview. Not sure when it was first published, but I think it was around the turn of the 19th to the 20th Century. Teddy Roosevelt wrote the intro, and the edition I read, while contemporary, kept the old-style font.
Comments closed July 06, 2008. |
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Heads in the Sand
My son's AP World History class was assigned a book called "Gengis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" by James Weatherford which, while I haven't read it, looks like a good quick intro. Plus pretty entertaining. I bought it yesterday at our local analog bookstore, where I saw your book displayed as well!
Posted by Clara | June 22, 2008 9:20 AM