Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

By: Jack Weatherford

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Jack Weatherford

Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization.

Vastly more progressive than his European or Asian counterparts, Genghis Khan abolished torture, granted universal religious freedom, and smashed feudal systems of aristocratic privilege. From the story of his rise through the tribal culture to the explosion of civilization that the Mongol Empire unleashed, this brilliant work of revisionist history is nothing less than the epic story of how the modern world was made.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Listen to An Interview with Author Jack Weatherford.

©2005 Jack Weatherford (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"With appreciative descriptions of the sometimes tender tyrant, this chronicle supplies just enough personal and world history to satisfy any reader." ( Publishers Weekly)

"There is very little time for reading in my new job. But of the few books I've read, my favourite is Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. It's a fascinating book portraying Genghis Khan in a totally new light. It shows that he was a great secular leader, among other things." (Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India)

"Weatherford's admiration for Genghis and his firsthand knowledge of many of the sites important in Mongol history give this text an immediacy and a visual quality that are enhanced by Davis’s presentation. When the narrative begins to lag in its final hour or two as it moves farther from the twelfth century, Davis's crisp pace maintains the listener’s interest to the end. An informative and provocative work of popular history." ( AudioFile)

Amazing part of history!

The impact of the Mongols on the whole world is astounding. For them to have been portrayed simply as bloodthirsty barbarians for so many years is nearly a crime. The truth of their story was so well hidden, and guarded, it has only come to light since the early 1990s.

The first section of the book is about Genghis Khan's early life. This section was difficult for me to finish. I really questioned why this was important until the end of the book where a comparison is made between Genghis, and a slave in early America. With this first section, we understand where he came from, what shaped him, and adds one more monumental accomplishment to an already long list.

Fascinating history that impacts many parts of our daily lives yet today, nearly one thousand years later.

brilliant !!!

I love this big view of history. Worth every moment! Open a new view of how a horror can become a blessing and everything can be turned to wisdom.

Fascinating!

This is a well written and extensive book on a subject about which I knew little. It tells an in depth history of Genghis Khan and the Mongols and how remarkable and innovative was their influence. They made lasting changes that have affected the whole world, including in the west today. Awesome book! The reader was great as well!

The real side of world's greatest conqueror

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I like reading history as it teaches fill in so many blanks in our understanding. This book tells the story of world's greatest conqueror. We all have been largely mis-fed about Genghis Khan and Mongols in all. They have been showcased in the contemporary media as merciless conquerors with not civility. The books will surprise you with the progressive steps Mongols took under Genghis Khan's rule.

Some of the striking legacies of Genghis Khan's Mongol empire are:
- Segregating of state and religion
- Merit bases society and administration
- Supremacy of law. Even the ruler was subject to the same law under Mongol empire.
- Diplomatic immunity
- Secular society
- Paper based currency by Kublai Khan (Genghis Khan's grandson). He also unified the China as we know today.

And of course Mongols were supreme military strategist and warriors who conquered everything between China and central Europe.

I am following this book with Civilization, which furthers the story from 15'th century onwards and saw emergence of the West above the Asians.

Interestingly, the West drew heavily on Mongol innovations which ultimately triggered the Renaissance in Europe.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World?

I loved the epilogue where the author kinda summarizes Genghis Khan's tale and the efforts put in collating all this information. The book spans across 3 centuries of Mongol empire and would have required immense amount of research to test the veracity of different interpretations.

What three words best describe Jonathan Davis and Jack Weatherford ’s performance?

I loved both of them. They brought to life such a remarkable story which is portrayed so wrongly in contemporary media.

Could you see Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes.

Great book

Would you consider the audio edition of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World to be better than the print version?

great audible "lecture " if you love history. Narration is perfectly performed, with a confortable voice tone. The epilogue is the only part of the book that is performed by the author and turns to be boring and too long. It would have been better to allow the narrator to read the epilogue with his trained voice. Excelent.

What about Jonathan Davis and Jack Weatherford ’s performance did you like?

Simply perfect.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

Any additional comments?

The epilogue is read by the author and it is boring and too long. He is a great writer, and not so good narrator.

Fascinating history

This was really cool! I'm sure, I, like many others had only a faint idea of who Genghis Khan was, and the impact his life had on the world today. I could not stop listening; had to finishing. I can't stop telling people about it.

Eye opening

This book really open your eyes to the real life of Genghis Khan. It is very sad how much about him was altered through history.

Humbling history of a genius leader

The history of the Mongol Empire has been done a great disservice in the traditional Western education. This engaging, flowing book puts this right. It starts with the story of a young Genghis Khan that draws heavily on a semi-mythical history. However once it reaches the period of Genghis Khan's leadership of all Mongol people in the elected role of Great Khan, the narrative transitions into a less emotive style that still holds interest.

The book continues after the death of Genghis Khan to cover in detail the continued growth of the Mongol Empire until its zenith under Kublai Khan. The narrative closes with a summary of the decline of the empire, and how Western history has inaccurately and negatively portrayed the history of the Mongol people.

However what particularly interested me was all the detail on how the Mongol Empire functioned using a distinctly enlightened set of ideas. These included such concepts as religious tolerance, paper money, a cheap postal network, public education, a public service run on merit, and a frequent promotion of trade in preference to conquest. The Mongol Empire applied many ideas fundamental to modern Western civilisation many hundreds of years earlier than they appeared in Europe.

The book does play down the horror of Mongol conquest, and they did like conquest. After all the Mongol Empire didn't get so large without it. Once the Mongols had conquered an area though, it appears that the benefits of their good government flowed quickly.

I have a keen interest in the history of civilisations, and this book on the Mongol Empire is an excellent addition to that canon. I recommend it to anyone interested in the history of ideas.

Excellent history, but a bit rosy-eyed

Would you consider the audio edition of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World to be better than the print version?

Probably equal. The only real negative is that, as of my listening, the recording had an error. The book's twelfth chapter is entitled "Afterword: The Missing Conqueror." However, in the print version of the book (both hard copy and kindle), it is "Introduction: The Missing Conqueror" and has the exact same content. The content acts as a frame for the entire book, explaining how the author came to study the Mongols, what he did to write the book, and outlines the structure of the book you are about to read. For some inexplicable reason this section, which reads like a classic introduction, has been placed at the end. It is jarring and makes zero sense. I hope audible will move it to its rightful place at the beginning of the book.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the perspective it offered on the many ways that the Mongol Empire and its values permeated and changed Europe.

Any additional comments?

Engagingly written history of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. The book ranges across land and time to tell a fuller and more appreciative version of Mongol history, eschewing the more common villification of Genghis Khan and his armies. The author focuses a lot on the war strategy of the Mongols, how it interacted with outiders, its willingness to allow religious tolerance and to incorporate the knowledge, skills, and industries of conquered people, and the innovative approach taken to empire management. With this focus on the broader aims of empire building and not just war (and any attendant raping and pillaging) offers the reader insight into the many ways that the Mongols shaped modern society (from trade routes to written law, to laying the groundwork for the Renaissance and Europe's adoption of a number of technologies - both industrial and war-related). The author also makes the plausible argument that but for the Black Plague, the Mongol Empire may have had continued prominence (wheras the Plague intervened and led to cities isolating themselves, thus crippling the extensive trade routes that were the lifeblood of the Empire). The major shortcoming of this mostly excellent book is that it glosses over the sheer numbers of dead and does not catalog any of the atrocities of the Mongols. This is less of a handicap since plenty of other books remain that hone in on those aspects of the Mongols and mostly ignore a more nuanced portrait, but still leaves a reader feeling that the author may have benefited from tempering his obvious esteem for the Mongols by offering a full potrait, blemishes and all.

Countless moments of inspiration and awe.

This is the most in depth account of one of the greatest humans in history that I've read, AND kept my full attention all the way through. It's not every audiobook that has me saying "Wow" aloud.

I have recommended this book to a dozen people since starting it, and I recommend it for anyone looking to understand an alternate history, over 800 years old, that can be traced to the here and now of your life.