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The Secret History Of The Mongol Queens: How The Daughters Of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire (2010)

by Jack Weatherford(Favorite Author)

3.82 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0307407152 (ISBN13: 9780307407153)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Crown

review 1: Genghis Khan was a really progressive leader. He trained his daughters how to run the homeland and appointed them queens of the territories he gained by their marriage. Their consorts became part of his army along with his sons. He wrote laws that provided equality for women and dictated their respect. Unfortunately, when he died his eldest son became Khan and waged war on his sisters and all women. While the empire expanded slightly during his reign, it rotted from the inside and then collapsed. Throughout the next couple of centuries women were able to keep elements of Genghis Khan's family alive and eventually a new queen became the ruler of the Mongols and established a dynasty that lasted several more centuries. Perhaps it should be noted that many of those par... morets of the original "Secret History" that mentioned the queens had been cut away, covering up their contributions to the empire. This is similar to what happened to the Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut. It is from other sources, folk lore and contemporary histories from other areas that we learn of these women.
review 2: I admit that, at the beginning of this book, I knew very, very little about the Mongol Empire, aside from basic general knowledge, in high school text book snippet kind of way. I knew Genghis Khan was a military mastermind and created a vast, if short lived, empire. And that pretty much everyone but the Mongols themselves thought they were barbarians. However, while hardly an expert, after reading this book I went away not only with a deeper understanding of the Mongol nation but of the state of the Asian powers at that time. Weatherford's history dives into the lesser known aspects of the Mongol empire, namely how the women of his empire (daughters, granddaughters, and one very successful long-distant relative) kept the behemoth going and eventually resurrected it from near ruin. But he also writes a book that the average person interested in history, even if they don't know much about this time period or culture, can grasp. The names can be hard to follow, as they are so foreign to someone more rooted in Western history. But through repetition and the helpful genealogical map, this was overcome. The author's style is refreshing and honest. Some historians feel the need to make a story of their history, to fill in the gaps with a narrative of some kind. Weatherford almost has nothing but gaps, as the women of power in the Mongol Empire were basically eliminated from the record. But the book lays out the facts that he knows, scanty as they are, and pieces them together using a lot of assumption and common sense. But he doesn't make unwarranted and over-confident presumptions, and that's appreciated.Aside from some minor annoyances (when he blithely writes that only dull monastic infighting is happening in Western history at that time, completely ignoring the importance of said infighting to the history of the Church as a whole), this was a great read. It will leave you wanting to learn more about the wild (sometimes) barbarian (depends on who you ask)Mongols, whose names are remembered but whose history remains largely secret. less

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