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Article: A kinder, gentler Khan.(Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World)(Book Review)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- June 14, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, by Jack Weatherford (Crown, 352 pp., $25)
FOR years the more robust souls here at NATIONAL REVIEW have prided themselves on being to the right of Genghis Khan. Now, however, comes Jack Weatherford, a professor of anthropology at Macalester College, to make the case for a kinder, gentler Genghis in his revisionist history of the fast rise and quicker fall of the Mongol Empire.
Blessed with an eye for the main chance, and a capacity for killing friends and family at propitious moments, the boy born in 1162 as Temujin dominated his tribe and, by 1204, captained it to triumph over its rivals. As they exerted ...