Genghis Khan: Emperor of All Men

This was an engaging telling of the life and times of Genghis Khan. The author focused on the personal life and times that Khan lived in. He drew a living picture of the horror it must have been to be conquered by the Mongols, but also told the story from the Mongol's point of view.

I read this entire book on a plane going from San Francisco to New York. It was a 1957 paperback copy of a 1927 book. Genghis Khan: Emperor of All Men was the first of many biographies that Lamb wrote. The biography was well researched and written. An extensive bibliography and index are included. Genghis Khan conquered more of the earth than Alexander the Great or the entire Roman empire. His treatment of defeated enemies was sometimes brutal and cruel but he was tolerant of all religions. While his enemies said he had a horde of millions of followers he probably never had more than 150,000 soldiers when he defeated most of the armies of Europe and Asia.

Not a terribly academic work; rather, Lamb employed the skills he'd honed as a writer of adventurous fiction to create what might be called a romanticized pulp history. Originally published in 1927, it's still the most popular history about the father of the Mongols- thanks in no small part to its galloping pace and gripping narrative.

"Genghis Khan was careful to preserve what he thought might be useful to himself and his people; the rest was destroyed....Because GK did not, like Muhammad the prophet, make war on the world for a religion, or -- like Alexander and Napoleon--for personal and political aggrandizement, we have been mystified. The explanation of the mystery lies in the primitive simplicity of the Mongol's character. He took from the world what he wanted for his sons and his people. He did this by war, because he knew no other means. What he did not want he destroyed, because he did not know that else to do with it." [200]
The author lists examples of GK's laws translated from Petis de la Croix, gleaned from various sources.
The Yakka, one of the smaller show more nomad horse tribes in the Gobi Desert, 1162 A.D. could not be less likely to produce the most successful war-maker in history, Temujin, known in history as Genghis Khan. The clansmen were war-hungry and occupied in ancient feuds, exterminating entire people in a fight for spoil, pasture, [24] and surplus women. Temujin assembled a kurultai feast at the foot of Deligoun-Bouldak, and asked for pledges, for unity, for "Mongols" to be made from the mysterious Ugurs, the stalwart Karaits, the hardy Yakka, the ferocious Tartars, the dour Merkits, the hunters of game. He invoked the Yassa [code of tribal laws and his will], and held before them a vision of strength through unity [74-75]. show less

:(1892 - April 9, 1962) was an American historian, screenwriter, short story writer, and novelist.
Pros: powerful writing; vivid writing
Cons: none.
Note: listened on my train riding across Swiss alps.

The Epic Story of the Barbarian War Lord who Conquered Half the World