Ghengis Khan

[Catiline]

Did anyone see the ghengis Khan biopic last night on the BBC? I thought it was great, up until the last ten minutes ' and then he invaded Persia and Russia, but we've not got time for that...', but my knowledge of the Mongols is limited to say the least.

There are two upshots though - firstly I'd like to know what people thought of the accuracy of this, the armies etc looked pretty good, and they only resorted to flaming arrows once, which must be a record for a TV show, and secondly what are some good books to read on Ghengis and the Mongols in general.

Cheers

Ed

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi Catiline,
Don't know much about him either, but fell into the show just after the start. I liked it for sure!

[john m roberts]

One of the best books about Central Asia, the Huns and Mongols, is "Empire of the Steppes." All my books are packed away while my study is being remodeled, but it was written in the 30's and I believe it's translated from French. Some years ago I read another good one, not as scholarly, called "The Heartland," again about Central Asia and its peoples. Don't remember the author but you can Google up just about anything ever printed these days if you have the title.

[Robert Vermaat]

This article has a very well-balanced comment on that documentary, I think:
[url:3ey1gqyz]http://www.sundayherald.com/49288[/url]

[Frank Miranda]

Russia and the Golden Horde by Halperin is very good, imo, as is James Chambers' The Devil's Horsemen which deals with the Mongol drive towards Europe. I also have RP Lister's Genghis Khan in my library which- to my great shame- I've never completed.