Book description
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.
John Man is a historian and traveller with special interests in
Mongolia and the history of written communication. His
GOBI: TRACKING
THE DESERT
was the first book on the subject since the 1920s. He is also the author
of
THE ATLAS OF THE YEAR 1000
, a portrait of the world at the turn of the millennium,
ALPHA BETA
, on the roots of the alphabet, and
THE GUTENBERG REVOLUTION
, an examination of the origins and impact of printing. His most recent
book is GENGHIS KHAN. He lives in London.
