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  • Published: 19 September 2016
  • ISBN: 9781784703509
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 688
  • RRP: $27.99

Genghis Khan

The Man Who Conquered the World




The greatest story of military conquest in history from a ‘master storyteller’ (Guardian)

Genghis Khan was by far the greatest conqueror the world has ever known, whose empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean to central Europe, including all of China, the Middle East and Russia. So how did an illiterate nomad rise to such colossal power, eclipsing Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon? Credited by some with paving the way for the Renaissance, condemned by others for being the most heinous murderer in history, who was Genghis Khan?

His actual name was Temujin, and the story of his success is that of the Mongol people: a loose collection of fractious tribes who tended livestock, considered bathing taboo and possessed an unparallelled genius for horseback warfare. United under Genghis, a strategist of astonishing cunning and versatility, they could dominate any sedentary society they chose.

Combining fast-paced accounts of battles with rich cultural background and the latest scholarship, Frank McLynn brings vividly to life the strange world of the Mongols, describes Temujin’s rise from boyhood outcast to become Genghis Khan, and provides the most accurate and absorbing account yet of one of the most powerful men ever to have lived.

  • Published: 19 September 2016
  • ISBN: 9781784703509
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 688
  • RRP: $27.99

About the author

Frank McLynn

Frank McLynn is a highly regarded historian, who specialises in biographies and military history. He has written over 20 books, including critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon and Richard the Lionheart. Other books include 1066, Stanley, 1759, and Marcus Aurelius. He is a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, and London University, where he obtained his doctorate.

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Praise for Genghis Khan

A formidable study of the world’s greatest conqueror. With this compelling history of a brilliant, complex leader and ruthless master of warfare, McLynn has done his man proud

Justin Marozzi, Sunday Times

McLynn has carefully synthesised the work of hundreds of scholars to create a sensitive and immensely detailed portrait of an extraordinary leader

The Times

A vivid, page-turning biography

Spectator

Fuses classic biography with a colourful study of medieval Mongolian culture … recounts in detailed, elegant prose the life and legacy of one of history’s greatest monsters

Sunday Telegraph

Immensely readable

Gerard DeGroot, The Times

Compendious and thoughtful … McLynn makes a case for Genghis as a brilliant political innovator … McLynn’s narrative is methodical and detailed … its arguments careful

Lucy Hughes-Hallett, New Statesman

A brilliantly entertaining narrative

David Sexton, Evening Standard

Epic history on a grandiose scale and the author sets to his task with gusto … Much of McLynn’s book is rightly taken up with [Genghis Khan’s] remarkable military campaigns, notable for their sadistic cruelty

Mail on Sunday

Even someone who writes as well as McLynn could not make a mass murderer likeable, but he does make you realise just how remarkable [Genghis Khan] must have been

Rob Dex, Irish News

A biography of extraordinary synthesis and historical vision

Literary Review

This powerful and comprehensive study of the great Mongol takes your breath away with the sheer scale and fury of the man’s conquests and cruelties. Told with chilling relish

Melvyn Bragg, Observer Books of the Year

McLynn brings vividly to life the strange world of the Mongols, describes Temujin’s rise from boyhood outcast to become Genghis Khan, and provides one of the most accurate and absorbing account yet of one of the most powerful men ever to have lived

Asian Art Newspaper

McLynn has plumbed great depths to produce such a book as this… A very interesting and compelling book, that informs us (in incredible depth) as to the magnitude of pre-planned and executed wars and battles.

Reg Seward, Nudge

In this formidable study McLynn has done his man proud.

Justin Marozzi, Sunday Times