This first book is Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. The author, Jack Weathorford, is an anthropologist who, along with a team of Mongolian scholars, has dedicated years of academic and feild work to filling in the many gaps of knowledge about Genghis Khan's life and the rise and fall of the Mongolian Empire.
In high school, I had read a few books on the Mongols, including a translation of "The Secret History of the Mongols". The Secret History was a document of much mystery for hundreds of years - originally written by Mongol historians during the time of the empire in the 13th century, documenting the life of Genghis Khan and his rise to power, it was often thought to be a myth. After the text was finally re-discovered in the early to mid-twentienth century, it was only released in translated versions years later, after painstaking work by scholars to transliterate and translate the ancient text. Weathorford uses the Secret History as a guide throughout his own research, using it as a map to find key locations in Ghenghis Khan's life. He traveled to his homeland, a taboo area protected from trespass first by mongol guards, and later by Russian occupiers looking to suppress any Mongol nationalism. Although much of the book focuses on the ancient Mongols, or the tribes that became Mongols, he weaves his modern day travels and the modern history of Mongolia into the story, showing us how the influence of Ghengis Khan and his accomplishments is still felt in ways both overt and subtle, even today.
Although certain points in the book seem to reflect a 'pro-Mongol' bias on the part of the author, this is hardly a drop in the bucket compared to the reams of Western-centric histories that are out there. And at least as far as I can remember, compared to previous books I've read, Weathorford does present a more human and nuanced view of the players involved. Although he clearly admires the accomplishments of Ghengis Khan, he doesn't seem to shy away from events that may reflect poorly on him.
Much of the book actually focuses on the events following Ghengis Khan's death. It was this expanded and more nuanced perspective that I found most intriguing about the book. Although they never occupied Western Europe, they did have a significant influence over the course of events there - contributing to the downfall of the feudal knighthood, and the rise of the enlightenment. Weathorford posits that the flow of ideas from the Mongol empire, where education and innovation where highly valued, and where class systems were often deconstructed, was a driving force behind the rise of the European enlightenment.
Perhaps one thing that most put in perspective for me was the reference to Marco Polo, the Italian explorer who is oft credited with opening up the East. When he arrived in the Chinese capital during the time of Kubhilai Khan, there were already European intellectuals living there and working for the Khan's government. Even before Marco Polo, the Khans had been inviting emissaries and priests from Europe to engage in philosophical pursuits and debates. It's unfortunate that the first inclination of the Pope and some of these priests at the time was to denounce the Mongols as barbarians and attempt to convert them - when many Mongols had already been Christian for generations. It's interesting to ponder how different our history might be if the liberal attitude of those in Europe who looked kindly on the Mongol empire had prevailed over the close-minded religious leaders who were in power. It's also interesting to consider how this religious arrogance has led to the West's appropriation of a religion that used to be global - and how it contributed to the downfall of Christianity in Asia.
Of course, the Europeans are not the only ones who come out of this looking bad, no sooner had their empire fallen than had academics the world over begun vilifying and demonizing the Mongols.
This book leaves no doubt as to the indelible effects the Mongol's have had on modern history. Whether you're familiar with the topic or not, it provides fantastic food for thought - making it impossible not to continue pondering the effects a disparate network of nomadic tribes has had on modern day politics and trade.
Weathorford attempts to put this in perspective for us by explaining it thus:
In American terms, the accomplishment of Genghis Khan might be understood if the United States, instead of being created by a group of educated merchants or wealthy planters, had been founded by one of its illiterate slaves, who, by sheer force of personality, charisma, and determination, liberated America from foreign rule, united the people, created an alphabet, wrote the constitution, established universal religious freedom, invented a new system of warfare, marched an army from Canada to Brazil, and opened roads of commerce in a free-trade zone that stretched across the continents.