History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

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Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Amazing!
Well Told Story: Mongol influences behind European Renaissance
Mongols Rule!

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
Jack Weatherford
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0609809644
Release Date: 2005-03-22

Book Description

The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in twenty-?ve years than the Romans did in four hundred. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization. Vastly more progressive than his European or Asian counterparts, Genghis Khan abolished torture, granted universal religious freedom, and smashed feudal systems of aristocratic privilege. From the story of his rise through the tribal culture to the explosion of civilization that the Mongol Empire unleashed, this brilliant work of revisionist history is nothing less than the epic story of how the modern world was made.

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“Reads like the Iliad. . . Part travelogue, part epic narrative.” —Washington Post

“It’s hard to think of anyone else who rose from such inauspicious beginnings to something so awesome, except maybe Jesus.” —Harper’s

“Weatherford’s lively analysis restores the Mongol’s reputation, and it takes wonderful learned detours. . . . Well written and full of suprises.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Weatherford is a fantastic storyteller. . . . [His] portrait of Khan is drawn with sufficiently self-complicating depth. . . . Weatherford’s account gives a generous view of the Mongol conqueror at his best and worst.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Genghis Khan.......2007-09-20

I read quite a few books, and few really alter my world view. This book changed my perception of Genghis Khan and the times in which he lived in a fundamental way. I had always thought of Genghis Khan as the ultimate military campaigner gone wild. Yes he was that but so much else in addition. His use of diplomacy, propaganda, his establishment of the concept of diplomatic immunity, his open-minded acceptance of all religions, his utter lack of personal greed and his vision of unifying the world mark him as an historical character worthy of much more attention and respect.

Genghis Khan.......2007-09-05

Excellent book. Very informative and eye opening. It dispels the myths about the mongols and clearly shows how the modern world's existence is in large part a consequence of the Mongol Expansion.

Amazing!.......2007-09-04

What an unlightening experience! Genghis Khan's story has too long been left untold and this work of historical fiction sheds light on this extraordinary man. It should be required reading for all World Civilization students.

Well Told Story: Mongol influences behind European Renaissance.......2007-08-25

Writing with rare lyrical sensitivity, this ambitious book attempts to re-invent our world. While Weatherford may be over-reaching here and there in his zeal, it is the passion behind the writing that makes it one of the best and most informative re-tellings of the Genghis Khan story.

The first part deals with GK consolidating power in Mongolia (Chapters 2-3). The middle part (Chapters 4-8) deals with world conquest and empire. The last and most interesting part (Chapters 9-10) deal with the legacy of his empire ("the making of the modern world").

Genghis Khan started on world conquest when he was nearly 50, and within fifteen years (1212 to his death in 1227), he had conquered four times the territory of the Roman or Macedonian empires at their peak. Part of his military strategy was psychological; cities that resisted were slaughtered to a man.

But the most novel aspect of the book (for me) is the impact of this large trade-friendly empire that spanned Eurasia for over 200 years (Chapter 9).
Perhaps he over-dramatizes a little: "Under influences from paper and printing, gunpowder and firearms, and the spread of the navigational compass... Europeans experienced a Renaissance, literally a rebirth, but it was not the ancient world of Greece or Rome being reborn. It was the Mongol Empire, picked up, transferred, and adapted by the Europeans" The claim seems almost unbelievable, so I went to several online sources simply to verify the specifics; I found most of it well-corroborated.

Furthermore, processes such as codification of laws, lightning mobility in war (the inspiration for Nazi "blitzkrieg"), religious freedom, and participative government, all taken for granted today, were practiced in the Mongol Empire and may have influenced European thinking.

The final chapter (10) deals with the historiographical process - how come Genghis' only image today is that of a brutal barbarian? Weatherford shows how initial European views (Marco Polo / Chaucer) were extremely positive, but there was a complete volte face during the Age of Enlightenment. Later, the scientitists came in, positing human sub-species such as the "mongoloid" and the "caucasian", with the Mongoloid being viewed as a primitive evolutionary stage, with a close relationship to the orangutan (p. 257).

Fired up after reading this, I also got a copy of Paul Ratchnevsky's widely acclaimed Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy - in addition to Mongol and Persian sources consulted by Weatherford, Ratchnevsky also considers Chinese histories, but the basic story does not appear to change that much.

For a scholarly history text, this is an extremely easy read.

Mongols Rule!.......2007-08-12

This is the tale of Temujin (1162 - 1227 AD), later known as Chinggis or Genghis Khan, a poverty-stricken outcast who became the leader of one of the greatest empires in history. At its height, under Temujin's grandson Khubilai Khan, the Mongol empire ranged from Baghdad to Peking and included all of modern China, most of modern Russia, Turkey and northern India. The conquest and command of such a vast amount of territory by a nomadic, largely illiterate people is a remarkable feat in itself; that the Mongols governed well and introduced numerous innovations across their huge empire is extraordinary.

The first half of the book is a biography of Genghis Khan; after that it's the history of the empire he established and its ultimate dissolution in the plague years of the14th century. It's also the story of the many innovations pioneered by the Mongols: paper currency, a unified monetary system, trade on a grand scale across thousands of miles, a universal language, religious freedom, and a consistent and humane legal code, to name only a few. It's true the empire eventually disintegrated in the aftermath of the plague, which effectively halted commerce across Eurasia, but not before East and West had exchanged numerous goods and knowledge.

The book also clarifies how the Mongols acquired the outrageous reputation they have had as barbarians up to the present day. This portion of the story is an excellent lesson in the misuse of history and the role of prejudice in the absence of facts.

I found the book readable and enlightening; for me, it was an antidote to ignorance, illuminating a shadowy corner of world history often missed in both Western (Europe and the new world) and Eastern (India, China, Japan) civilization courses.

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Spectacular
Genghis: Birth of an Empire
A Brutal and Intriguing Novel
The Best Conn Igguldenn book I have read so far!
Good first novel in what will be entertaining series - but what about the ponies?

Genghis: Birth of an Empire
Conn Iggulden
Manufacturer: Delacorte Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0385339518
Release Date: 2007-05-01

Book Description

He was born Temujin, the son of a khan, raised in a clan of hunters migrating across the rugged steppe. Temujin’s young life was shaped by a series of brutal acts: the betrayal of his father by a neighboring tribe and the abandonment of his entire family, cruelly left to die on the harsh plain. But Temujin endured—and from that moment on, he was driven by a singular fury: to survive in the face of death, to kill before being killed, and to conquer enemies who could come without warning from beyond the horizon.

Through a series of courageous raids against the Tartars, Temujin’s legend grew. And so did the challenges he faced—from the machinations of a Chinese ambassador to the brutal abduction of his young wife, Borte. Blessed with ferocious courage, it was the young warrior’s ability to learn, to imagine, and to judge the hearts of others that propelled him to greater and greater power. Until Temujin was chasing a vision: to unite many tribes into one, to make the earth tremble under the hoofbeats of a thousand warhorses, to subject unknown nations and even empires to his will.

Customer Reviews:

Spectacular.......2007-10-06

Wolf of the Plains in Australia.....

Absolutely brilliant reading. Nevermind the idiots who scream for perfect historical accuracy. Last time I checked, there's no one left alive from that era. It is a novel, it presents itself as a novel. If you want a history, then buy a history text book and go away.

On the other hand if you want a book that engulfs your senses... this is it. Iggulden, Jacq, Manfredi all spectacular authors.

Genghis: Birth of an Empire.......2007-09-13

Conn Iggulden's ability to tell a story is outstanding. I have read his Ceasar books and cannot wait for this author to produce his next work.

A Brutal and Intriguing Novel.......2007-08-29

This historical fiction book about Genghis Khan is phenomenal. I could not put it down. Raised in a clan of hunters Temujin and his family encounter many hardships. After being betrayed by a neighboring clan, and their closest friends, Temujin's family endures several years of hardship. These hardships shape Temujin into a skilled warrior that kills before he is killed, and conquers whatever, or whomever, comes across his path. This brutal and intriguing story transports readers to another time. I can't wait to read the other books in this series.

The Best Conn Igguldenn book I have read so far!.......2007-08-14

Great book. Thoroughly enjoyed it. It starts off very similar to the first emperor book, but just when you think you can guess what is gonna happen next some really unexpected yet amazing things happen. Really enjoyable, and I can't wait until the next installment in this series..... By the way, someone really needs to consider turning his books into movies.

Good first novel in what will be entertaining series - but what about the ponies?.......2007-08-13

Conn Iggulden's "Emperor" series was a fun, a-historical take on the life of Julius Caesar and his best friend, Brutus. Iggulden did not attempt to write a series that closely tracked the historical narrative (that's been done many times over, and Iggulden wasn't about to try to replace Colleen McCullough's "Masters of Rome" series). Historical liberties aside, Iggulden's take on Caesar was fun and action-packed.

"Genghis: Birth of an Empire" appears to follow the same track. "Gates of Rome," the first novel in the "Emperor" series, used less-famous personal names for Caesar and Brutus in order to obscure their identities while they were children. Iggulden does the same here, as the boy that will grow to become "Genghis" is named Temujin. He is the second oldest of five brothers, all sons to Yesugai, Khan of the Wolves. Born with a blood clot in his palm - a dire omen - Temujin will become one of the world's great conquerors.

But first he must survive his youth, which is a difficult struggle. Iggulden has spent his time in Mongolia, and it shows. The strengths of "Genghis" lie in Iggulden's depiction of the harsh Mongolian landscape and the life scraped out by its inhabitants. Iggulden uses several Mongol terms without definition, such as "ger," "deel," and the like, but it's pretty easy to figure out what is going on. Telling details like having one's hair frozen to the ground while sleeping transport the reader to the life-or-death edge that Temujin and his family live on most of their lives.

Temujin begins his life as the favored son of a brave military man. But intrigue rears its ugly head, and before Temujin realizes it, he and his family are cast out and left to die on the steppe without so much as a bow or sword. In addition to the brutal winter, Temujin is also hunted by his former clansmen as well as the hated Tartars. But that which does not kill us makes us stronger - and Temujin emerges as hard as iron to reclaim his family's rightful station . . . and then some!

This is a strong, entertaining novel. I don't know nearly as much about Genghis Khan as I do about Julius Caesar, so I am not able to quibble with Iggulden's historical fidelity. But I don't think that is one of Iggulden's primary goals - he seems more focused on good storytelling, and he excels at it.

My only significant problem with "Genghis" is that there is so little attention paid to the bond between man and horse. The Mongols are still a horse culture to this day, and Iggulden professes in his Afterword that the Mongols adore their ponies. So why is there not one scene of a single Mongol bonding with a horse? There is basically no attention paid to life on horseback - the horses in the book merely serve as mounts and as the occasional source of nourishment. This seems to be an odd omission for a book about the Mongols.

But for whatever faults it may have, "Genghis" is an exciting read. Iggulden writes a good battle scene, and he convincingly conveys the misery that formed much of Temujin's youth. I will definitely read the next volume in this series, and look forward to it eagerly.

Understanding Iraq: The Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, from Genghis Khan's Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to the American Occupation

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A Short, Concise, and Comprehensive Overview
Book of reality
A polemic
A Primer For Understanding History of Iraq
Well-written introduction to Iraqi history

Understanding Iraq: The Whole Sweep of Iraqi History, from Genghis Khan's Mongols to the Ottoman Turks to the British Mandate to the American Occupation
William R. Polk
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060764694
Release Date: 2006-03-14

Book Description

The Dramatic History of Iraq in One Concise Volume

The destinies of Iraq and America will be tightly intertwined into the foreseeable future due to the U.S. incursion into this complex, perplexing desert nation -- the latest in a long history of violent outside interventions. A country sitting atop the world's largest supply of crude oil, Iraq will continue to play an essential role in global economics and in Middle Eastern politics for many decades to come. Therefore, it is more important than ever for Westerners to have a clear understanding of the volatile, enigmatic "Land of Two Rivers" -- its turbulent past and its looming possibilities. In this acutely penetrating and endlessly fascinating study, acknowledged Middle East authority William R. Polk presents a comprehensive history of the tumultuous events that shaped modern Iraq, while offering well-reasoned judgments on what we can expect there in the years to come.

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Iraq will continue to be a major issue and involvement for the United States into the foreseeable future says William R. Polk, former member of the State Department's Policy Planning Council and professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of Chicago. Iraq sits on the world's largest supply of oil, and with the world's energy requirements continuously rising, Iraq will play an ongoing role in the global economy and the political environment throughout the Gulf region and the Middle East.

Polk's concise, authoritative overview of Iraq's history shows how the pattern of outside intervention was established first by the Ottoman Turks and the Persian Safavids and later by England, Russia, and Germany. After World War I came British rule, followed by a brief and uneasy period of independence that sparked Iraqi nationalism, leading Saddam Husain to power with American military and financial aid and covert CIA involvement. The Iraq-Iran War and the invasion of Kuwait was followed by the Gulf War, the sanctions period, and the Bush administration's decision to invade. Finally, there is the American occupation and the challenges, opportunities, and options that Iraqis and Americans face now and in the future.

Customer Reviews:

A Short, Concise, and Comprehensive Overview.......2007-08-19

This book is a good read for the average person wishing to brush up on the history of Iraq, and to understand why it is the U.S. occupying force has faced such difficulty (we should have learned from the British colonial occupation!). Written by an expert on Middle-Eastern affairs and a scholar of Arabic, it is both a concise history of Iraq from ancient times and a compelling criticism of the current U.S. occupation. Although Polk belittles the post-invasion presence of Al-Qaeda, and comes up short in terms of a comprehensive "solution" to the problem there (who currently doesn't?), this book is a recommended read for the introductory reader, written by a man of distinguished credentials. The primary weakness of the book is a lack of comprehensive footnoting and referencing, which would fully make transparent the author's sources. (Those supportive of the war will look in vain for any supporting reasons for the war in Iraq.)

Book of reality.......2007-08-08

This book is a must-to-read for all American policy makers who are dealing with Iraq issue. As an Iraqi who lived in the "Revolutionary Iraq" period, as the author names it, I agree with most of what he said. However, I disagree with the idea mentioned in the book that Americans did not know that Iraq will invade Kuwait. Being less arrogant & reading a bit about the history of Iraq will definitely spare the Americans many lives. Till now, it is not too late to do so.

A polemic.......2007-07-23

With this title on a 213 page book you can't legitimately expect something on the order of Gibbon's Rise and Fall, but this book is stunningly superficial and a bad polemic.

A good polemic shares the virtue of other scholarly works and avoids first person commentary. This author just can't resist citing himself as a source and refering the reader to his website. A good polemic at least attempts to engage or acknowledge the best of other points of view or weak points in its argument. This is the kind of book that sternly notes the refusal of French and Chinese governments to support the sanctions regime -- without mentioning that the objectivity of both governments' assessment of sanctions was deeply undercut by the fact that they both had sweetheart deals with Saddam to develop Iraq's oil as soon as sanctions were lifted. It casts the US and British as boogeymen without adequately acknowledging Saddam's responsibility for miserable and unstable leadership of a wealthy country with energetic people. I tired of plowing through Polk's opinionated, often self-congratulatory prose for the occasional nugget of useful information.

Finally, I don't agree that this book is respectful of the sweep of Iraqi history. Iraq occupies the Tigris and Euphrates basin, the "cradle of civilization". By giving an ethnic frame to the presentation of ancient wonders like the hanging gardens of Babylon, the culture that produced the Gilgamesh epic, the world's first written writing (a recipe for beer), and the period of the first 4 Islamic caliphs the author can mislead the Western reader into thinking that Iraqi's share his understanding of their past. Based on my own experience of Iraqis and in Islamic countries Iraqis would not recognize or appreciate an ethnic slant on their ancient past and Muslims universally respect the 4 caliphs who immediately followed the Prophet Mohammed. We can't get that from this book and that's basic to respect for the Iraqi past.

If you want a book that recites the arguments against US and British policy from the 1980s onward this book does a good job of presenting them--without offering any sense of a viable alternative that would have worked with Saddam. If you're looking for a book that will overcome the limitations of both the neo-conservative and Arabist worldviews and give a balanced presentation of Iraq's rich history and resources and how its people can go forward to enjoy them in peace, skip this book.

A Primer For Understanding History of Iraq.......2007-05-12

This book provides the reader with valuable information on the history & development of Iraq as well as the region surrounding Iraq.
A required a "read' for all.

Well-written introduction to Iraqi history.......2007-03-03

A sympathetically written book about a region surprisingly rich in history. Having been familiar with Iraq during a pivotal period in its history, the author also brings his perspective to recent events there.

Storm from the East: From Genghis Khan to Khubilai Khan

Average customer rating:

The Book's Title is Self Explanatory
One to remember
For those who can't get the video...
An excellent introduction to the Mongols
A riveting read

Storm from the East: From Genghis Khan to Khubilai Khan
Robert Marshall
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

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Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

ASIN: 0520083008

Customer Reviews:

The Book's Title is Self Explanatory.......2002-08-23

This is a great history book on the great Mongol Empire. It clears up a lot misunderstandings and superstitions about the supposedly horrible Mongol barbarians and gives a reliable account of their rule in this time period. It covers Temujin's (aka Genghis Khan) beginnings to the end of his forebears rule. It has pictures from the past and of re-enactments of Mongol cavalry - you will rarely find this elsewhere. The Mongol Empire was a militaristic nation, so this book lacks on the military strategy and warfare of the Mongols. Only the basics are covered.

One to remember.......2002-04-25

I love the occasional suprises in life; you know the very unexpected which enriches you forever.
When I bought this book I really wasn't interested in Ghengis Khan but I thought maybe I could find out more about the group. Well, the book ws written beautifully which madefollowing the sory and timeline very easy.
I found the author had a scholastic approach to the subject which is what I sought and had the ability to incorporate mady other aspects tpo the Khans which gave me the unusual perspective that I always desire. You know the knowledge that lets you lord over others who happen to feel they are experts and expect that noone else knows. Thats my kind of fun.
Anyway, the book incorporates the necessary maps and some beautiful artwork that really enhances the book. Unfortunately, I mark up all of my good book with underlines, exclamation points and many many stars for futile future reference
The only criticism I can offer is that beside his references to many of the major cities that he invaded and then re-constructed there was no mention of the modern names of these places which requers me to search them out on the internet.
If you are a history lover and want a dry but fascinating look at this period, BUY THIS BOOK!
I fmr: Marshall reads this- well thank you for writing this book you have given me the power of knowledge.

For those who can't get the video..........2002-04-12

This is a great overview of the part of Mongolian history that most intrigues westerners, the years of the great Khans. It is a very accessible book that doesn't require any prior knowledge on the part of the reader, and hopefully inspires them to look deeper into the people and the nation of Mongolia.

In the west we've all heard of Ghengis Khan, and we have our preconceptions of "barbarian" cultures or the terrible hordes of Mongol warriors; the reality behind the myths and legends is well worth knowing. I first encountered the "Storm from the East" video series on TLC and it has since re-played {but rarely} on THC. The film or video is only on offer to educational institutions at a very high price, so the most a layman can hope for is a quality tape from TV -or- this book.

The book follows the video script almost verbatum, with many of the same maps, diagrams and stills from the live footage shot in Mongolia. It's a wonderful substitute, and an easy to digest history lesson.

The relationship of the medieval Mongolian nation to China and the western European nations is fascinating, and thanks to "Storm from the East" it is easily understood. The book is written with a gentle sense of humor, but does not belittle nor aggrandize the Mongolian people or the historical Khans.

An excellent introduction to the Mongols.......1999-05-21

This book is based on a BBC documentary of the same name. The book is written so that any history freak can read and enjoy it. Many, Many pictures and maps make it more understandable. Some of the pictures are even re-enactments and are very interesting to look at.

A riveting read.......1998-12-28

An excellent book for all interested in the rise and fall of the Mongol Empire. Written in an exciting and lively way, the reader is left thirsty for more, even though the book itself is factually complete without inundating the interested layman with boring, left-alone facts and dates.

The Mongols and the West: 1221-1410 (The Medieval World)

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Fascinating Topic

The Mongols and the West: 1221-1410 (The Medieval World)
Peter Jackson
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Mission to Asia (MART: The Medieval Academy Reprints for Teaching)
Ancient China and its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History

ASIN: 0582368960

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating Topic.......2006-12-15

This is a very well written book about the Mongol Empire's interaction with Europe and Islam during the middle ages. Jackson has mined the meager records to portray the violence, politics and religious interplay between the disparate adversaries in eastern Europe and west Asia. He also convinces me that the Christians had no real hope for converting the Mongols, who were basically shamanistic when they left the Mongolian steppe but were very tolerant of all faiths under their dominion. The missionaries, however, showed no such inclination for tolerance and therefore alienated most of the khanate principalities. Their occasional successful "conversion' usually proved an illusory and temporary respite from the Islamization and Buddhization of the Asian invaders. Jackson also discusses the effect that western travelers to the Mongol court had on European perceptions, the most notable being Marco Polo. Surprisingly, Jackson discounts the probablity that these were highly influential in molding minds prone to superstition, myth and fantastic rumor. This book is a must-have for aficionados of medieval history and multicultural geo-politics.

Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World

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Mixed Bag, Lots of great stuff, some glitter
It's a bird! It's a plane!
Heady reading
Overly dramatic
A spirited, riveting account blends ancient and modern worlds

Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World
Justin Marozzi
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Mughal Throne: The Saga of India's Great Emperors

ASIN: 030681465X

Book Description

A powerful account of the life of Tamerlane the Great (1336-1405), the last great Mongol conqueror of Central Asia, ruler of a vast empire, and one of history's most brutal tyrants

Tamerlane, aka Temur-the Mongol successor to Genghis Khan-ranks with Alexander the Great as one of the world's great conquerors, yet the details of his life are scarcely known in the West. Born in obscurity and poverty, he rose to become a fierce tribal leader, and with that his dominion and power grew with astonishing speed. He blazed through Asia, razing cities to the ground. He tortured conquered inhabitants without mercy, sometimes ordering them buried alive, at other times decapitating them. Over the ruins of conquered Baghdad, Tamerlane had his soldiers erect a pyramid of 90,000 enemy heads. As he and his armies swept through Central Asia, sacking, and then rebuilding cities, Tamerlane gradually imposed an iron rule and a refined culture over a vast territory-from the steppes of Asia to the Syrian coastline.

Justin Marozzi traveled in the footsteps of this fearsome emperor of Samarkand (modern-day Uzbekistan) to write this book, which is part history, part travelogue. He carefully follows the path of this infamous and enigmatic conqueror, recounting the history and the story of this cruel, cultivated, and indomitable warrior.

Customer Reviews:

Mixed Bag, Lots of great stuff, some glitter.......2007-10-02

Marozzi has done a lot of work and there is a lot of great stuff in here. At times he seems to get carried away and feel that he was writing a Hollywood script, it makes the book a cross between a novel and a work of history. But don't get me wrong, he seems to know his subject well. The title is misleading as was the man himself. Tamur used Islam as and when it served his purpose and so implying that he was enforcing Islam is wrong. Tamur killed Sunni's and Shi'as just as happily as he killed people of other faith. Marozzi's treatment of Tamur Lung (the right way of saying the name) reminds me of Mel Gibson's cheap tricks with Christ, throw in a lot of gore and people will buy it to be shocked. Both seem to ignore the context of time. Then every now and then Marozzi throws in a few pages of utmost brilliance like when he boldly states: "Europe of that time was backwater" I doubt how many historians missed that part. He is a great story teller and reads like James Mitchner, just not as gripping. His talks about his travels seem a bit weak and not very interesting. But having said that, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in military history, Tartars, wars in Islamic world and I am sure I will read this book again someday. His map in the beginning is great, but then he chooses to throw some black and white pictures instead of more maps.

It's a bird! It's a plane!.......2007-06-05

In principle the idea to make a mix of a travel book with a history book does not sound so bad - but it does not quite work in this case. The author's travels have little historical relevance, are wordy, and in most (not all) cases simply detract. I ended up just skipping them. The historical part itself is somewhat better, but is badly in the need of editing. The author apparently can't decide whether to give a chronological narrative, and runs back and forth in time with confusing consequences. The citations from contemporary sources are far too long, especially ones from the Spanish Ambassador, whose story of travel to meet Temur is told in similar words at least three times throughout the book. I fully agree with a previous reviewer about too many pages (the whole chapter, actually) being devoted to analysis of the Marlowe play - with no useful information, whatsoever. I would advise to skip the whole chapter, but, confusingly, quite a few pages in the middle and the end of the chapter "forget" about Marlowe and just address Temur himself. Adding to a feel of unfinishness are the maps: they are never referred to in the text, are somewhat redundant, and randomly distributed throughout the book.
On a historical level, although the author, to his credit, does not diminish the atrocities caused by this monster, still, the author clearly finds Temur a more positive figure than the book itself portrays, emphasizing his building legacy and patronage of arts. I am sure this came as a great relief to hundreds of thousands slaughtered by Temur's orders in most cruel manner, in cold blood.
Still, overall, much of this book reads relatively well, and it's only one currently available. Maybe the author will tweak the next edition to make it better......

Heady reading.......2006-11-16

It might be inappropriate to say I >enjoyed < a book about a protagonist who decorated the scenes of his victories with pyramids of skulls. However, the book is absorbing. The author writes well, with skill, knowledge, and at times quiet humor. His comments on conditions in Temur's lands today were very interesting, connecting the past to the present.

I probably had better than average knowledge of Temur, knew about his coffin lid, and so forth, but my knowledge was, at best sketchy. Didn't Handel have a hand in writing an opera about him? I had never figured out what Mongols were doing ruling India. This book filled in vivid details about this fascinating, but almost forgotten, page of history.

Fortunately, my decision to buy the book was not influenced by the reviewer who complains about Marozzi's use of Marlowe's play. Actually, the play figures very briefly in the book. It provides an intriguing contrast of the perception or dramatization of Temur and the historical facts. For that matter, I wish he had commented on Handel's opera, too.

Readers are sure to ... well, I shouldn't say enjoy it, but you will want to read this book.

Overly dramatic.......2006-07-20

Marozzi keeps using phrases such as gold and precious stones, and uses repetitive dramatic language to describe every battle. The book is interesting in spite of the unsophisticated writing.

A spirited, riveting account blends ancient and modern worlds.......2006-05-23

Tamerlane was the lost nomadic warlord and his achievements ranks him with Alexander the Great in power and domination - yet his name is little known today. That's why TAMERLANE: SWORD OF ISLAM, CONQUREROR OF THE WORLD is so important: it tells of a fierce tribal leader who tortured and killed without mercy, whose soldiers erected a pyramid of some 90K enemy heads, and whose iron rule ran from Asia to Syria. Journalist Justin Marozzi has traveled throughout the Muslim world gathering information for this history/travelogue: TAMERLANE comes packed not only with source material information but with the first-person experiences of the author's travels in search of it. A spirited, riveting account blends ancient and modern worlds.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

Average customer rating:

The Size of the World
Dry, but interesting
straight & plain narration
We are all Marco Polos now
Rediscover the wonder

The Travels of Marco Polo
Marco Polo , and Ronald Latham
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140440577

Book Description

Chosen as one of the ten best adventure books of all time by National Geographic Adventure. Liveright is proud to reissue a facsimile of its classic 1926 edition of The Travels of Marco Polo. Beginning from the traditional lyrical Marsden translation, editor Manuel Komroff corrected it against Henry Yule's magisterial two-volume work, including a chapter missing from the Marsden. The artist Witold Gordon created thirty-two two-color woodcut illustrations for the original edition, published again here for the first time in over fifty years. The Travels of Marco Polo remains a wondrous adventure narrative. Chronicling the thirteenth-century world from Venice, his birthplace, to the far reaches of Asia, Marco Polo tells of the foreign peoples he meets as he travels by foot, horse, and boat through places including Persia, the land of the Tartars, Tibet, India, and, most important, China. There he stays at the court of Kublai Khan, venturing to the capital of Beijing and to Shangtu, made immortal in Coleridge's poem "Xanadu." This is a gripping look at a legendary place and time. Two-color illustrations.

Download Description

IN a western direction from Pi-an-fu there is a large and handsome fortress named Thai-gin, 1 which is said to have been built, at a remote period, by a king who was called Dor. 2 Within the walls of the fort stands a spacious and highly-ornamented palace, the hall of which contains paintings of all the renowned princes who, from ancient times, have reigned at this place, forming together a superb exhibition. A remarkable circumstance in the history of this king Dor shall now be related. He was a powerful prince, assumed much state, and was always waited upon by young women of extraordinary beauty, a vast number of whom he entertained at his court.

Customer Reviews:

The Size of the World.......2007-09-12

It has been a pleasure to revisit the travels of Marco Polo. I was transfixed by these stories of travel and adventure when I was a child, and never questioned the veracity of the narrative. I know today that the narrative has been corrupted over the centuries, that "The Travels" can scarcely be used as an historical reference, and that a more tantalizing and complete manuscript has probably been lost to the ages. Still, there are glimpses and insights within the narrative that could only have come from first-hand experience, and these describe an enormous, exotic world that titillates even today, while readers in the 13th and 14th centuries must have been enthralled.

I was most keen this time around to Polo's descriptions of the cultures and wildlife he encountered, of the whales and lions and leopards and bears--he even describes a white bear, and the people who hunted it were surely of the group often called Eskimos. He describes dog-sledding in the far north and the cannibalistic practices of the people of Java far to the south, both of which are extant in our current era. There are also the fascinating observations of the Mongol Empire, of that group of nomadic people who somehow rose up, like an event in an Isaac Asimov novel, to conquer much of the known world.

Somewhat depressingly, though, are Polo's observations of the tensions that existed between the Islamic and Christian worlds, tensions rooted in the competition for hegemony over trade in the Far East. Seven hundred years later, these tensions are still acting themselves out.

This translation by Ronald Latham from 1958 includes an introduction that puts Marco Polo's life in context with events and includes footnotes to help the reader make sense of the myriad manuscripts that make up the travels of Marco Polo. This is a somewhat dry read; even Latham comments on the paucity of skill employed by Polo's chronicler. Once I put my mind in context with the narrative, however, I was able to roll with the repetition and sycophancy and enjoy the text.

Dry, but interesting.......2007-07-27

Imagine a very boring person went through something fascinating. This person came up to you, started to talk about this incredible journey of theirs, but talking in this monotonous voice without changing pitch or showing excitement at any moment.

That's essentially what "Travels of Marco Polo" is. It's an INCREDIBLY interesting book and a fascinating tale, but can it possible be said in a more dry and flat way? There is no energetic spark that makes this adventure jump off the page. Perhaps this is due to the times, but I suspect the translation is a bit literal and bland as well. The writing never changes tone, even in parts that are clearly exciting and amazing. All the facts are there, but the reader is forced to put too much energy just to make it interesting.

Marco Polo had a most fascinating journey. Any history buff should snatch this book off the shelves (unless they decide to read the even longer, more annoying records that I'm sure can be found floating around), and anyone interesting in Marco Polo should as well. It may be dull at times, but it's still incredible, fascinating, and a riveting tale.

Recommended to heavier, more able readers.

straight & plain narration .......2007-07-26

This is just a straight & plain narration on what Marco Polo came across. At times it's quite boring. But I mean no disrespect for Polo as he would still be a remarkable explorer & adventurer even today, not to say in the 13th century where transportation was in primitive modes. Contrasting Polo's map & the modern one is interesting though, as well as guessing the modern places corresponding to Polo's description.

We are all Marco Polos now.......2007-01-15

In the late 13th century, three Venetian merchants, two brothers and the son of one of them, visited China, which was then ruled by the Mongols. The Mongols distrusted the native Chinese and hired foreigners such as the young man as minor officials. The Venetian merchant-turned-official traveled extensively through North and South China, South-East Asia and India. After he returned to Venice, he took part in a war between Venice and Genoa, was taken prisoner, and in prison met a professional writer who wrote a book based on his memoirs and embellished it with the stock devices of late medieval romances. Among various Asiatic curiosities Messer Polo describes asbestos, coal, tigers, musk deer, sago and coconuts. He tells the story of the Buddha, describes the Mongol postal system (I was surprised that yamb, which is obviously the root of the Russian word yamshchik, a postal courier, is a Mongol word), Chinese paper money and the life of Indian yogis. For him, the Shinto "idols" of Japan are offensive for a Christian to read about, but the virginity test administered to prospective daughters-in-law in South China isn't. Marco Polo is no Jonathan Spence; he is not trying to get the reader inside the heads of people belonging to an alien culture; he is a merchant, and cares much more about the crops that grow in a certain kingdom or a region, and the crafts its inhabitants practice. Anyway, it is an enjoyable read if you liked Herodotus or the Russian Primary Chronicle. When I read it on the bus, the white man in the seat to the left of me was reading a textbook of Mandarin, and the white man to the right was practicing his Kanji - we are all Marco Polos now.

Rediscover the wonder.......2006-12-12

There is so little a reviewer could say about a classic that has not already been said. But, whether your interest is in travel literature, ancient history, military history, or anthropology, this book will excite and inspire you. The writing is conversational, witty, and addicting. Though the author repeats some stories, each telling seems to bring out nuances and connections that would have been missed otherwise and each telling takes you deeper into the Asian frontiers and its people. A fascinating traveller's story that never grows old. Must have for any serious student of history especially with regard to the Asian steppes and the empire of the great Khan. Rediscover the wonder of the travels for yourself, not second-hand but from the traveller himself.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

Average customer rating:

Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

The Mongol Warlords: Ghengis Khan, Kublai Khan, Hulegu, Tamerlane (Heroes & Warriors)

Average customer rating:

Good Biographies.
A Very Versatile History of Mongol Conquest
Tons of great pictures and drawings
Great reference with outstanding illustrations
Great Book

The Mongol Warlords: Ghengis Khan, Kublai Khan, Hulegu, Tamerlane (Heroes & Warriors)
David Nicolle
Manufacturer: Firebird
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

Mongolia | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

Far East | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Mongol Warrior 1200-1350 (Warrior)
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
Attila and the Nomad Hordes (Elite)

ASIN: 1853141046

Customer Reviews:

Good Biographies........2006-04-21

Good details, and some fine history made this scarcely studied topic a worthy read. The book focuses on the Mongols finest commanders and their campaigns. Ghenghis, Kublai, Hulegu, and Tamerlane. I liked the latter chapter the best. For a book of less than 200 pages, you get a wealth of information. There are also fine full page illustrations, photographs, drawings and maps.

A Very Versatile History of Mongol Conquest.......2003-06-27

The Mongol Warlords, by David Nicolle, is a very broad and complete coverage of the Mongolian culture and its military campaigns. The book focuses on the four great Mongol leaders: Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Hulego and Tamerlane. However, this book goes far beyond simple biographies of these four men.

This is a wonderfully illustrated book. Not only does it have many full-page illustrations, but it's chock full other great material: photographs, drawings, portraits, diagrams and loads of amazing maps. Even the margins are put to good use, diagramming pottery, artifacts, weapons, etc.

The histories and biographies themselves are honest, well-researched and complete. And there is so much supplementary material that the book guarantees something for everyone. And while it's true that you won't find anything in it that can't be found elsewhere, the book does a great job of putting together a wide variety of material in a useful and entertaining format. The content in this book will appeal to the casual reader as much as to someone who's topically oriented.

Great for reading or for reference, The Mongol Warlords provides a lot of bang for the buck. While it's not currently in print, I found my copy in a used bookstore at an attractive price. Look around; this book is worth the search.

Tons of great pictures and drawings.......2002-02-24

There is a lot of information about Mongolian culture, politics, and conquests as well as other aspects of their history, in particularly the Mongolian rulers (obviously). This book has a great deal of information about the way that they waged war and what they used to do it. There are details of what happened in particular campaigns as well as the battle tactics that were used.
Of course, that is what you would expect from the books title. However the biggest strength of this book are the tons of pictures and drawings of Mongolian clothing, weapons, and armour; as well as maps and other illustrations. It also includes breakdowns and explanation of their weapons and armour (I particularly like the part on why the Mongol bow is better than the English Longbow).
This is one of about 20 Mongolian related books that I have and it is one of the best.

Great reference with outstanding illustrations.......2001-01-10

Although its chapters focus on the four most prominent Mongol leaders of the 12th through 15th centuries, this book is much more than a collection of short biographies. Centered around the life and times of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Hulegu, and Timur are excellent descriptions of Mongol culture, archaeology, military tactics, and campaign strategies. David Nicolle's writing style is a pleasure to read, and while not as detailed and comprehensive as a textbook would be, still hits all the major campaigns and accomplishments of these men. The book (191 pages) is also interspersed with photographs of ancient artifacts and modern day ruins, as well many beautiful works of art. The illustrations by Richard Hook are very, very well done and breathe a life into the personalities and combat actions described in the text. It is a fine addition to any library of Central Asian steppe history and culture.

Great Book.......1998-07-17

This book is very good and informative. It contains interesting details on many of the key figures of the mongol conquest. My only complaint is its not long enough and doesn't have alot on the European exploits or the Golden Horde. However it does have details about the world at the time and many surprising details as well. All in all a great history book. To bad its out of print,but check your local library

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