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Title: Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy by Paul Ratchnevsky, Thomas Nivison Haining ISBN: 0-631-18949-1 Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Pub. Date: 01 November, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (10 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Pretty good account of Genghis Khan.
Comment: There are few sources available to research Genghis Khan & the author does a sound job of sifting & comparing these accounts. Despite the dearth of reliable information the nature of the Khan, his relationships, strengths & weaknesses, are conveyed to the reader adequately, albeit with certain amount of "poetic licence." The book starts slowly with general background information on the Mongols involving a huge number of uninteligible & pretty much unpronouncable names. It is a difficult read here. However, when Genghis makes his appearance & is actually the subject matter of the text, the book does take off. I enjoyed learning more about a larger than life character & I feel that few authors could have got to grips with the warrior khan better.Whilst not being a big fan of footnotes, I do think that this account would have flowed much better if the author had made his decisions & just put forward the information he was proposing, detailing his sources later. The casual reader would have benefited from a smoother read & the scholar could have verified the reasoning later.
Rating: 4
Summary: Fine biography
Comment: Westerners are often shocked to hear that in Mongolia today, Genghis is revered as a national hero and the father of the country. Indeed, even in China - a victim of the Mongols - Genghis is regarded as a great man. Not China's great man, of course, but a great man nevertheless. I know, speaking as an ethnic Chinese myself. By contrast, Europeans know Genghis as something like a cross between a medieval Hitler and Anti-Christ.
This book is indeed a little confusing, given all those proper names. Despite its conciseness, it is not written for the casual reader. I confess I have trouble understanding it. I advise those of us who are not experts in Asian history to read the relevant chapters in Frederick Mote's "Imperial China," which I think is very instructive on the Mongol period, and has a good deal to say about Timujin (Genghis) himself, from his ancestry and birth on.
Rating: 5
Summary: Superb Reference
Comment: Those who want an exciting and romantically embelished account of Temujin's (Genghis Khan) life should stick with Harold Lamb. His account is certainly more fun, but also laced with poetic license that at times becomes outright misleading. Lamb is an introduction to the story of the emperor of all men.
But Ratchnevsky is the top of the line reference to Temujin and his amzing life. He weighs the evidence and directs the reader to the lesser known aspects of Temujin's life.
Nowhere else will you find mentioned that Temujin probably had disappeared for ten years to China before his comeback in the late 1190ies.
Few point out that Temujin was not the most daring of men, more of a planner than a fighter and not above saving himself first.
Rachnevskies book paints a less glorious, but much more realistic and human picture of the man who changed the world forever. Temujin's actions have been accounted for in many sources, but few allow us to understand his motives.
Instead of inventing awe inspiring moments, as Lamb does, and putting words into the mouth of the man, Rachnevsky presents the different sources and versions diligently; and strangely, this allows a better understanding who this great Mongol was than all the literary fancy of Lamb or the sycophantic impropabilities of Malik Juvayni.
Lamb and Malik Juvayni have their own merits, and are a must have for all who want to explore this amazing part of history, but without Rachnevskies scholarly integrity, true understanding would elude most.
Not for the casual reader, but Temujin deserves on less than full attention.
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Title: The Mongols (Peoples of Europe) by David Morgan ISBN: 0631175636 Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Pub. Date: 01 April, 1990 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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Title: Genghis Khan by R. P. Lister ISBN: 0815410522 Publisher: Cooper Square Publishers Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The History of the Mongol Conquests by J. J. Saunders ISBN: 0812217667 Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Genghis Khan or the Emperor of All Men by Harold Lamb ISBN: 0766144151 Publisher: Kessinger Publishing Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford ISBN: 0609610627 Publisher: Crown Publishers Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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