Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy
Paul Ratchnevsky and Thomas Nivison Haining (tr.)
Ratchnevsky, Paul; Thomas Nivison Haining (tr.);
Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy
Basil Blackwell 1991 (German edition 1983) [gbook]
ISBN 0631189491
topics: | mongolia | biography | history | medieval | genghis
This is the authoritative biography of Genghis so far; consulting a broad range of texts from Mongol and Chinese to the Arabic and Persian, Ratchnevsky takes a nuanced position on all events relating to his life.
Excerpts
The vast steppes of the Mongolian plateau have, from time immemmorial, been the setting for bitter struggles between the Turkic and the Mongol-Tungusic pastoral tribes. Bands of horsemen from this area swept across Asia and Europe: Hsiung-Nu, Hsien-pi, Tavgach, Juan-juan, Tu-chueh, Uighurs, Kirghiz, and Khitans ruled the area and founded might empires, but these did not endure, usually collapsing in the 3d generation as a result of dissensi