Genghis Khan

GENGHIS KHAN is one of history’s immortals: a leader of genius and the founder of the world’s greatest land empire-twice the size of Rome’s. His mysterious death in 1227 placed all at risk, so it was kept a secret until his heirs had secured his conquests. Secrecy has surrounded him ever since. His undiscovered grave, with its imagined treasures, remains the subject of intrigue and speculation. Today, Genghis is by turns scourge, hero, and demigod. To Muslims, Russians, and Europeans, he is a mass murderer. Yet in his homeland, Mongols revere him as the nation’s father; Chinese honor him as a dynastic founder; and in both countries, worshippers seek his blessing.

This book is more than just a gripping account of Genghis’s rise and conquests. John Man uses firsthand experiences to reveal the khan’s enduring influence. Man is the first writer to explore the hidden valley where Genghis may have died, and one of the few Westerners to climb the sacred mountain where he was probably buried.

The result is an enthralling account of the man himself and of the passions that surround him today. For in legend, ritual, and controversy, Genghis lives on.