About a year before he was born, his father-to-be Yesugei (Yes-ooh-gay)– a member of the small and insignificant Borijin (BAW-deh-gin) clan that would one day become known as the Mongols – fell in love with Hoelun (Hoe-EH-lun), a beautiful teenage girl from a rich family, betrothed to the young warrior Chiledu (Chill-eh-duh) of the Merkid tribe. The story of Genghis Khan begins with a violent act and an augury. So, get ready to unearth the truth of Genghis Khan and the Mongol horde and prepare to discover why, rather than being merely bloody savages and ruthless conquerors, the Mongols are the reasons why we have paper money, carpets, and lemons, in addition to diplomacy, free trade zones and even meritocracy! The birth of Temujin (Teh-MEW-Juhn)

For Genghis Khan and the Mongols, however, their achievements lay forgotten, while their alleged crimes and brutality became magnified.” Weatherford’s book is a seemingly controversial, but ultimately enlightening attempt to right this wrong.

“With the passage of centuries,” bemoans cultural anthropologist Jack Weatherford in his exceptional book, “Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World,” “scholars weighed the atrocities and aggression committed by men such as Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, or Napoleon against their accomplishments or their special mission in history. And yet, the legacy of the Empire’s founder, Genghis Khan, is riddled with stories about cruelty and blood lust, and strikingly at odds with the legacies of famous European military leaders such as Alexander the Great. Stretching from Eastern Europe to the Sea of Japan, the Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous land empire in history.

Genghis khan modern world