The Secret History of the Mongol Queens

How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire

By: Jack Weatherford

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

The Mongol queens of the thirteenth century ruled the greatest empire the world has ever known. Yet sometime near the end of the century, censors cut a section from The Secret History of the Mongols, leaving a single tantalizing quote from Genghis Khan: “Let us reward our female offspring.”

Only this hint of a father’s legacy for his daughters remained of a much larger story. The queens of the Silk Route turned their father’s conquests into the world’s first truly international empire, fostering trade, education, and religion throughout their territories and creating an economic system that stretched from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. Outlandish stories of these powerful queens trickled out of the empire, shocking the citizens of Europe and the Islamic world.

At the conclusion of his magnificently researched and groundbreaking narrative, Jack Weatherford notes that the deeds of these Mongol queens inspired great artists from Chaucer and Milton to Goethe and Puccini, and so their stories live on today.

With The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, Weatherford restores the queens’ missing chapter to the annals of history.

©2010 Jack Weatherford (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"Uplifting, entertaining history.”—Kirkus Reviews

Only Listened to the last Chapter

only listened to the last chapter because I actually own the paperback version of it, but about 20 pages were missing and they were, of course, the LAST 20 pages. couldn't wait to buy another paper copy of the book so i got it here.
I really like the book so of course I like the story, but cant speak for the performance.

Fascinating

The book is fascinating story telling and serves to make us aware of the missing stories in history and their importance.

Compelling

My interest was piqued after watching Netflix series Marco Polo. I just wanted to know more about Mongolia. Enjoyed this book very much am able to work & listen, am an artisan. Often I would stop my work & attentively listen & marvel at what was being said. Remarkable civilization, loved that there were many outstanding, courageous women.
Descriptive, well written albeit lengthy, enjoyed the voice of the narrator.

unknown to me

will do this again again.amazing in detail and respect for hardy spirited indomitable people but a special place for heroic women

The Things You Learn

My eyes were opened to an unknown world. Am going to check out more on Khan. The narrator A+ , he could read the phone book and make it interesting .

The Secret HISTORY OF THE MONGOL QUEEN S

This is an amazing and enthralling book.Even more so the second time I read it.. Thank you.

Great History. Comprehensive

I liked thid very much. It brought the subject to life. Delivery was excellent. Story very interesting indeed.

A weaker almost fairy-tale rendition.

I didn't enjoy as much as his previous book. mainly because he jumped around to much.

great book.

excellent narrator. Great research and history. Thanks for expanding my knowledge of the peoples of this world.

I will come back to listen to this again and again

What did you love best about The Secret History of the Mongol Queens?

I learned about human behavior. I finally got it. Humans are jerks. It's been happening for thousands of years and no matter what I do to try to make things better, humans are jerks and will ruin it. I was heartbroken to realize that Genghis's sons were jerks to his sisters and that within a generation that all that he'd worked for would fall apart.

But just as there are jerks, there are also good people who fight to help out. I admired other kids, grands, their spouses, doing whatever they could to help make their world better. I loved this aspect, too.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Secret History of the Mongol Queens?

I found the last section to be the most memorable because I am a tree hugging world peace wanting neo-hippie. I realized that the human condition is to fight and to be at war and that we will have to fight for peace. (That sounds silly: fight for peace.) Even if things are good for everyone, someone will want to fight because they are able and can get more. This isn't just a modern day problem.

What does Robertson Dean bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He's just a great orator. I will look over what else he does so I can listen to more of the works that he reads. He did what a good orator will do-- he brings characters to life and makes them exist in the listener's mind.

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

I called in sick for a church event so I could keep listening.

Any additional comments?

Yes. I wanted to see what my friends were so psyched up over and at first I bought some "chick lit"-- women's literature-- and it was *death by a thousand paper clips*. My ears hurt. Thank goodness for Audible's return policy. I returned the women's literature book a couple of days later and I am thankful that I could return it and buy this book, instead, The Secret History of Mongol queens is a great read.