The first popular biography of the legendary Mongol emperor and warlord.

Genghis Khan - creator of the greatest empire the world has ever seen - is one of history's immortals. In Central Asia, they still use his name to frighten children. In China, he is honoured as the founder of a dynasty. In Mongolia he is the father of the nation. In the USA, Time magazine, voted Genghis Khan 'the most important person of the last millennium'. But how much do we really know about this man? How is it that an unlettered, unsophisticated warrior-nomad came to have such a profound effect on world politics that his influence can still be felt some 800 years later? How he united the deeply divided Mongol peoples and went on to rule an empire that stretched from China in the east to Poland in the west (one substantially larger than Rome's at its zenith) is an epic tale of martial genius and breathtaking cruelty. John Man's towering achievement in this book, enriched by his experiences in China and Mongolia today, is to bring this little-known story vividly and viscerally to life.

Genghis Khan is one of history?s immortals: a leader of genius and the founder of the world?s greatest land empire - twice the size of Rome?s. His mysterious death in 1227 placed all at risk, so it was kept a secret until his heirs had secured his conquests. Secrecy has surrounded him ever since. His undiscovered grave, with its imagined treasures, remains the subject of intrigue and speculation.

Today, Genghis is by turns scourge, hero and demi-god. To Muslims, Russians and Europeans, he is a mass-murderer. Yet in his homeland, Mongols revere him as the nation?s father; Chinese honour him as dynastic founder; and in both countries, worshippers seek his blessing.   

This book is more than just a gripping account of Genghis? rise and conquests. John Man uses first-hand experiences to reveal the khan?s enduring influence. He is the first writer to explore the hidden valley where Genghis may have died, and one of the few westerners to climb the sacred mountain where he was probably buried.

The result is an enthralling account of the man himself and of the passions that surround him today. For in legend, ritual and controversy, Genghis lives on...

?A fine introduction to the subject, as well as a rattling good read' Independent
 
?A fine, well-written and well-researched book? Mail on Sunday
 
?Fascinating?history doesn?t come much more enthralling than this? Yorkshire Evening Post

John Man:
is a historian and travel writer with a special interest in Mongolia. After reading German and French at Oxford he did two postgraduate courses, one in the history of science at Oxford , the other in Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies. His GOBI: TRACKING THE DESERT (Weidenfeld, 1997) was the first book on the subject in English since the 1920s. He is also the author of THE ATLAS OF THE YEAR 1000, (Penguin 1999), ALPHA BETA (Headline, 2000) on the roots of the Roman alphabet, THE GUTENBERG REVOLUTION (Headline 2002) on the origins and impact of printing, and GENGHIS KHAN.

2008-07-08 Enthusiastic but patchy

Genghis Khan is full of the author's enthusiasm for Mongol culture and their history, and this is charming for the most part. The period that this book deals with is fascinating, and the book itself describes engagingly the clash of urban and nomadic cultures, the intertwining of Mongolia's fate in China and how Genghis Khan may have lived and died. Much is based on conjecture; this is clearly necessary as there is only one limited source, The Secret History, from around the time. This is clearly explained in the text and where this and other sources are questionable the reader is informed and the evidence appears to be dealt with an appropriate degree of scepticism.
The lack of evidence becomes more troublesome when the author feels the need to introduce his travels to flesh out the content. As suggested in other reviews, it feels like space filler and adds very little to the book, making you wish you could hit fast forward on these sections.
Another slight annoyance is the apologist theme throughout - whenever the Mongols commit an atrocity, it is not for sadism or xenophobia's sake but as a 'sign for others' or as justifiable vengeance. Given the number of murders - particularly of non-combatants - the Mongols felt they had to commit to peoples of various backgrounds, either word didn't get around or this strategy didn't work that well.
Genghis Khan is on the whole an informative read, but I would not have resented a shorter book. I would give it three stars but I'm not sure if anyone has made a better book on this subject.