Genghis Khan: A History of China

Before Genghis Khan ruled an empire, he was Temüjin: the son of Yesügei and Hoelun, heir to a battered Mongol lineage, and a boy growing up in a Mongolian steppe divided among rival clans and powerful neighbors.

Genghis Khan: A History of China, Part One follows the rise of Temüjin from the legendary origins of the Borjigin "Golden Lineage" through the violent tribal world that shaped him. The story moves between the Mongols and the Jurchen Jin dynasty, the long feud with the Tatars, conflict with the Merkits and Taichiud, and Temüjins shifting relationships with figures such as Bِrte, Jamukha, Toro-often called Wang Khan-Boorchu, Jelme, Jebe, and Subutai.

Along the way come ancestral legends, marriage alliances, betrayals, captivity and escape, raids, political rivalries, battlefield reversals, and the difficult business of turning personal loyalty into organized power.

The book also looks beyond the familiar image of the conqueror. It follows Hoeluns struggle to preserve her abandoned household, Temüjins friendship and rivalry with Jamukha, the influence of Bِrte, his alliance with Toro, and the pressures created by the Tatars, Merkits, Naimans, Keraits, and Jin frontier.

Written as accessible narrative history for general readers, this volume explains the people, customs, rivalries, and political choices behind Temüjins rise-before the story of Genghis Khan became the story of an empire.