My work BFF started this and kept telling me about it at a party while we were drunk. It's that good. I have a few issues with the conclusion the author draws -- the European Renaissance is attributable to a lot more than a recreation of Genghis Khan's trade routes -- and the sources used. (Half the information comes from a newly rediscovered and translated book called the Secret History of Genghis Khan, which is awesome! But... in history, things that are awesome are generally not true.)
Everything you think you know about the Mongols is wrong, just by the by. It is SO INTERESTING how Genghis Khan built his empire based on merit and fairness, and how miserable his childhood was, and all the amazing and liberal things he did. Plus, his fighting tactics were amazing! And it is equally fascinating how the empire fell apart, and what the long-term impact of the Mongols was, and how words like "mongoloid" entered the common language as derisive terms, even though he was considered a great man in his own time.
So good! You will read it and then you will bore people at parties when you can't shut up about it.
Grade: A
Originally posted 2009
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