Book Recommendation: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

I'm not much for history books. I think history is interesting to a point and I like to hear about it, especially when it affects things that are more interesting to me--literature, movies, religions. But I generally have a hard time sticking with books that are strictly historical.

When I bought Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford at Half Price Books, I had a feeling that I was wasting my money on another history book that I would never finish.

On the contrary, I found myself more sucked into the book than I have been to any nonfiction, let alone history, book in quite awhile. The storytelling is compelling, the author relates the history well to modern perspectives and familiar happenings, and the writing is extremely easy and pleasant to read. It begins with the author's own journeys in Mongolia to discover Genghis Khan and covers the known history from Genghis Khan's parents to the time when his empire finally fell apart. It was an interesting perspective that I haven't often heard before, and opened my eyes to the possibility that much of our modern culture and knowledge (and that of the Renaissance period) began with the Mongol conquest and their thirst for knowledge and openness. My only issue with the book is that I feel like the author may have given more importance to the Mongol conquest and its effects on culture than it may deserve, out of his respect for the Mongols. I unfortunately don't know enough about history to make a firm declaration, but it's something I feel might upset some of the more historically-minded people out there.

This book has some valuable knowledge for anyone with any interest in Genghis Khan, the Mongol history or the influence of the East on the development of Western medieval or Renaissance culture of knowledge, and (unlike too many history books) presents it in a fun and interesting way for readers.