Category Archives: Genghis Khan

“In Xanadu* did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure dome decree: Where Alph**, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.” Have those words of  Samuel Taylor Coleridge been running through your mind as we … Continue reading →

Marco! Polo! Marco! Polo! Not just a refrain in a swimming pool game—he begins to appear in the pages of Part III.  He’s traveling some of the very routes that the Mongols have set up for their trade routes. I’ll … Continue reading →

You came back!  Thanks! So Tolui’s sons are in power now. They’re the grandsons of Genghis Khan—Mongke, Hulegu, Khubilai and Arik Boke.  (Otherwise known as Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter.) Mongke, as eldest, is the new Khan.  He’s known as … Continue reading →

Battles, battles, battles.  The Mongols really do go into Russia, and then Europe–Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Poland. But then they stop—-they need to fight where there is vast pastureland.  Each soldier has FIVE horses–and those horses need to be fed.  So … Continue reading →

Genghis Khan dies around 1227 (Year of the something they’re always quick to tell you, but I didn’t catch this one.)  I riffle through the remaining HALF of the book, and wonder what the author will talk about now that … Continue reading →

Ah, I’ve broken through page 100!! “To the west of the Jurched were the kingdoms of the Tangut, then the Uighur, and finally, in the Tian Shan mounts, the Black Khitan.” Do you see what I’m up against here?  I … Continue reading →

There are many, many references, as I read along, to “The Secret History”. And I ask myself—why not just read the Secret History by Cleaves?  But, that’s just an aside—I keep reading. There are Temujin and Jamuka—-get out your notebook– Temujin … Continue reading →

Khan means “chief”—did you know that? September is here!  And that means it’s time to take a look at this month’s book club book—Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford.  Genghis–pronunciation? I’m afraid it’s going … Continue reading →