Author : 龔書鐸、劉德麟 主編
What is it about : The book detailed the rise and fall of the Mongols - a few humble tribesmen/herdsmen minding their own business near the present borders of north-east China and Eastern Russia, raising a few cattle farms, shaving a few sheeps to make woolly jumpers, roasting mutton on a spit every now and then, and may be even a sing-song after dinners around the camp fire and then they would sleep peacefully under the big night sky. And voila, one day came the great Chinggis who would unite these tribes and these fearless and fearsome horsemen would struck fear across much of Asia and Europe and had a bit of a bash. Their empire extended to present day Poland, Syria, Austria and would help shape and administer China and Russia into their present mighty States, more or less. And at the end, the empire was just too big not to fall apart - feuding brothers and cousins at the royal courts as well as the oppressed locals who had had enough of administration corruptions, incompetence and whats-not. This book focused mostly on the Mongols' influence and history on China, namely the Yuan Dynasty (元朝) that the Mongols established.
Some thoughts after having read the book : I particularly enjoyed reading the good coverage of the various characters involved in this mighty dynasty which included the usual suspects of Chinggis, Kubali etc; but also the able "prime ministers" and the queens who had such a big hand in making Yuan Dynasty and the Mongols such a formidable force in the days when they ruled most of the known world. I also appreciated very much the numerous photos, maps and diagrams which made the book that much readable and interesting.
Would I recommend this book to you : An excellent introduction to the characters, incidents, battles and psyche of the Mongols; especially for us, as we would be visiting Mongolia in a few week's time ! Of course, the present-day Mongolia would be a very pale version of this once proud and mighty empire.
