Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy / Edition 1

by Paul Ratchnevsky

Overview

Genghis Khan was the founder of the Mongol Empire, the largest continuous land empire ever. On his death in 1227, this extended from the Near East to the Yellow Sea, and was expanded by his successors to include what is now Iran, Iraq and southern Russia. By 1206, Genghis Khan had completed the unification by conquest of all the tribes of Mongolia, and was acclaimed as universal Khan. He then launched his assault on Northern China. Peking was captured in 1215, and the Chin were finally subjugated by Genghis's successors in 1234. This is the definitive biography.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780631189497
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	12/08/1993
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	785,647
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Paul Ratchnevsky was Emeritus Professor of Sinology at Humboldt University in Berlin, and best known for his three-volume work Un Code des Yuan.

Thomas Nivison Haining CMG served for over 30 years in the diplomatic service, including as Ambassador to Mongolia. He is currently an honorary Research Associate in History at the University of Aberdeen.

Author of the new introduction:
Morris Rossabi is Professor of History at the City University of New York and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations.

Editorial Foreword.

Preface.

1. The Origins and Boyhood Years of Genghis Khan (Temuchin).

2. Rise to Supremacy on the Steppe.

3. Genghis Khan: Ruler of the Mongol Empire.

4. Personality and Achievements.

5. The Structure of the World Mongol Empire.

Abbreviations.

Notes.

Glossary.

Main Personalities.

Dynamic Tables.

Chronology.

Map of Campaigns.

Bibliography.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This may well be the definitive biography of Genghis Khan" Library Journal

"But for Paul Ratchnevsky this corner of history would remain largely unavailable to the West. The debt to the author is enhanced by Thomas Haining's splendid and untiring work in rendering the original book into English." Times Higher Education Supplement

"If anyone could bring us close to the mystery of Genghis Khan's achievements, it was the late Paul Ratchnevsky." London Review of Books

"The translation is excellent. Mr Haining is to be congratulated on his contribution to what is in many respects an improvement even on Ratchnevsky's splendid work." Royal Asiatic Society

"The most significant post-war study of Genghis Khan. Ratchnevsky had exemplary linguistic and historiographical skills enabling him to draw on a very wide range of original sources. Thomas Nivison Haining, the translator and editor of the English version, has done a fine job in trimming the notes while maintaining their principal import, to produce a work of value both for the informed general reader and for specialists." Asian Affairs

"This is the most exciting book I have read for a long time ... A book that no serious Mongolist should be without. The general reader will find it absorbing and informative." The Anglo Mongolian Society Newsletter

From the Publisher

The 13th century was the Mongol century in world history, when pastoral horsemen from the deserts of Central Asia established an empire that extended from the Danube to the Yellow Sea. Ratchnevsky, one of the foremost living Mongol historians, draws upon Mongol, Chinese, Persian, and English sources to produce what may well be the definitive biography of Genghis Khan, the man responsible for unifying the scattered Mongol tribes into an empire-building nation. Originally published in German as Cinggis-Khan: Sein Leben und Wirken in 1983, the book was longer and weighed down with documentation of interest to the most specialized readers only. The present English version is still heavy reading, but Haining, former U.K. Ambassador to Mongolia, has done much to extend its appeal with skillful translation, reorganization, and abridging. While this book is quite similar in scope and style to Leo Hartog's Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the World ( LJ 1/90), I would give a nod to the Ratchnevsky volume for its readability.-- John H. Boyle, California State Univ., Chico

Library Journal