A review by pearl35
Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy by Frank McLynn

4.0

Another giant book, since McLynn rounds out what can be pieced together from the Secret History and outside accounts of the Mongols with fuller discussions of Mongol life--much of it reinforced by *anthropological* studies of still-nomadic Mongol herdspeople. The ecology of Mongol steppe maintenance and wildlife control, logistical abilities, family dynamics and economic arrangements, as he argues, turn out to be significant in understanding why the Mongols were able to shift so quickly--and so effectively--into governing a massive empire. McLynn gives credit to the women of the Khan's family, as well as those he was smart enough to promote or marry into his family, and offers a compelling narrative of the spectacular rise of one of the most influential and complex figures in world history (and always one of my favorite lecture subjects for POL 150).