Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, History
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, History
Book Type: Paperback
Helpful Score: 3
After reading this book and enjoying it thoroughly I checked on the internet for reviews. The historians who reviewed it found flaws. I noticed some of the same flaws as I was reading and sensed others, but Jack Weatherford brought Chingis to life, and I had to ask myself would I have been happier if Chingis had remained dead and dry as dust for me? No.
Historians guard their turf jealously, and in addition probably they're jealous that their books didn't become NYT bestsellers, and for that I am sorry, but for me this book was a great introduction to a historical figure - love him or hate him - who changed the world, probably changed history, and changed my perception of history, because what I was taught all through school is far from the truth. How big is that?
While I was reading the book, Chingis lived for me, and after I finished I knew far more than was in those dusty dry history books written by 'historians' that claimed Europeans ruled the world. Far from it, actually. The revelation of that truth was an epiphany if there ever was one. With that knowledge, everything changed.
Perhaps I'll eventually choose another book about Chingis and see what that author has to say. Weatherford's book left me wanting to know more, even though whatever I find cannot possibly be as exciting as Weatherford's story because for me Weatherford made history come alive.
If you read this book and like it because it reveals something unknown about history as you were taught, you might also like 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
This is an epic and seminal book, one that, like Weatherford's Chingis, exposes facts that change all our perceptions.
The revelation of the presence in our hemisphere 14000 years ago of sophisticated and civilized societies that had to have been among the first developers of agriculture is, in itself astonishing. But the revelation of not just a few but many very large Indian-built cities of astonishing size, wealth, and artistry, containing sanitary facilities that rival those that Rome built far later, the plentitude of food discovered in those cities, the wealth of the leaders and populace, the beauty of costumes and jewelry, the cleanliness of body and face at a time when the Europeans who were 'discovering' the 'natives' were unwashed, filthy, unmannered, and completely unknowledgeable about cleanliness, their clothing and bodies lice-ridden, their hair and beards matted with grease from food and with bits of food itself... well, frankly the Indians believed they were animals. Is this what you learned in school? No? Are you surprised? I was - each page was a new adventure.
If you read and like Chingis, don't miss 1491.
And if you find 1491 interesting, take a look at the book MAYFLOWER, in which the disappearance of the millions of Indians and the discovery throughout the US of uncounted numbers of Indian villages complete with empty houses, food, utinsils, and clothing just waiting for English settlers to claim them is explained. I won't spoil the story. MAYFLOWER is as interesting in its way as Chingis and 1491. The three should be read in sequence because together the books correct a gigantic flaw in our understanding of world history.
Historians guard their turf jealously, and in addition probably they're jealous that their books didn't become NYT bestsellers, and for that I am sorry, but for me this book was a great introduction to a historical figure - love him or hate him - who changed the world, probably changed history, and changed my perception of history, because what I was taught all through school is far from the truth. How big is that?
While I was reading the book, Chingis lived for me, and after I finished I knew far more than was in those dusty dry history books written by 'historians' that claimed Europeans ruled the world. Far from it, actually. The revelation of that truth was an epiphany if there ever was one. With that knowledge, everything changed.
Perhaps I'll eventually choose another book about Chingis and see what that author has to say. Weatherford's book left me wanting to know more, even though whatever I find cannot possibly be as exciting as Weatherford's story because for me Weatherford made history come alive.
If you read this book and like it because it reveals something unknown about history as you were taught, you might also like 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
This is an epic and seminal book, one that, like Weatherford's Chingis, exposes facts that change all our perceptions.
The revelation of the presence in our hemisphere 14000 years ago of sophisticated and civilized societies that had to have been among the first developers of agriculture is, in itself astonishing. But the revelation of not just a few but many very large Indian-built cities of astonishing size, wealth, and artistry, containing sanitary facilities that rival those that Rome built far later, the plentitude of food discovered in those cities, the wealth of the leaders and populace, the beauty of costumes and jewelry, the cleanliness of body and face at a time when the Europeans who were 'discovering' the 'natives' were unwashed, filthy, unmannered, and completely unknowledgeable about cleanliness, their clothing and bodies lice-ridden, their hair and beards matted with grease from food and with bits of food itself... well, frankly the Indians believed they were animals. Is this what you learned in school? No? Are you surprised? I was - each page was a new adventure.
If you read and like Chingis, don't miss 1491.
And if you find 1491 interesting, take a look at the book MAYFLOWER, in which the disappearance of the millions of Indians and the discovery throughout the US of uncounted numbers of Indian villages complete with empty houses, food, utinsils, and clothing just waiting for English settlers to claim them is explained. I won't spoil the story. MAYFLOWER is as interesting in its way as Chingis and 1491. The three should be read in sequence because together the books correct a gigantic flaw in our understanding of world history.
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