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The Secret History of the Mongol Queens
The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire | Jack Weatherford
37 posts | 15 read | 50 to read
The Mongol queens of the thirteenth century ruled the largest empire the world has ever known. Yet sometime near the end of the century, censors cut a section from The Secret History of the Mongols, leaving a single tantalizing quote from Genghis Khan: Let us reward our female offspring. Only this hint of a fathers legacy for his daughters remained of a much larger story. The queens of the Silk Route turned their fathers conquests into the worlds first truly international empire, fostering trade, education, and religion throughout their territories and creating an economic system that stretched from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. Outlandish stories of these powerful queens trickled out of the Empire, shocking the citizens of Europe and and the Islamic world. After Genghis Khans death in 1227, conflicts erupted between his daughters and his daughters-in-law; what began as a war between powerful women soon became a war against women in power as brother turned against sister, son against mother. At the end of this epic struggle, the dynasty of the Mongol queens had seemingly been extinguished forever, as even their names were erased from the historical record.. One of the most unusual and important warrior queens of history arose to avenge the wrongs, rescue the tattered shreds of the Mongol Empire, and restore order to a shattered world. Putting on her quiver and picking up her bow, Queen Mandhuhai led her soldiers through victory after victory. In her thirties she married a seventeen-year-old prince, and she bore eight children in the midst of a career spent fighting the Ming Dynasty of China on one side and a series of Muslim warlords on the other. Her unprecedented success on the battlefield provoked the Chinese into the most frantic and expensive phase of wall building in history. Charging into battle even while pregnant, she fought to reassemble the Mongol Nation of Genghis Khan and to preserve it for her own children to rule in peace. At the conclusion of his magnificently researched and ground-breaking narrative, Weatherford notes that, despite their mystery and the efforts to erase them from our collective memory, the deeds of these Mongol queens inspired great artists from Chaucer and Milton to Goethe and Puccini, and so their stories live on today. With The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, Jack Weatherford restores the queens missing chapter to the annals of history. From the Hardcover edition.
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TheSpineView
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#Movie2BookRecs @klou
Prompt: Queen of the Desert

Klou Brilliant choice! 1y
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iread2much
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Mehso-so

Don‘t start a book by stating there‘s almost no documentation on the mongol queens & then write a narrative history! There are no in-text citations and it really drags in some places. Genghis Khan left huge parts of his empire to his daughters, who were systematically butchered & tortured by their brothers. The brothers lose everything. It takes another woman to try to piece it back together after decades of corruption and cruelty. 2/5 stars

RedxoHearts Aw so cute and fluffy! 2y
iread2much @RedxoHearts 😊 thank you 2y
19 likes2 comments
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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

Apparently Genghis Khan‘s sons were doofuses and he had a progressive view of men and women, so he installed his daughters as rulers of pieces of his empire as he went on to conquer more. After his death, efforts were made to systematically erase the impact of his daughters. (Of course.) I found the first half of this book really interesting and the rest dragged a bit, but I definitely learned from it.

#ReadingAsia2021 #Mongolia

Graywacke Cool 3y
Librarybelle This is on my to read list, and I think has bumped up thanks to your review and @Texreader ‘s posts! 3y
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Texreader
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Pickpick

I loved Jack Weatherford‘s Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, & I now love this book, too. I thought this would be a rehash of that book, but no. He tells a mesmerizing story of Genghis‘s daughters‘ successful rule across Asia, then the deterioration of the empire across centuries, & how Queen Manduhai recovered its glory. The author loves his subject & makes it fascinating reading. I‘m happily on a 5-star streak! #readingasia2021 ⬇️

Librarybelle I‘ve loved all of the quotes you posted about this one! 3y
Texreader @Butterfinger I hope you enjoy this one, too. I posted a lot of comments and quotes from it and so glad I did. I remembered so much about it just reading what I‘d posted. It makes me almost want to reread both his books. 3y
Butterfinger This must have been what was in my mind when I started reading Genghis Khan. That is why I tagged you. I knew there was a connection between you and that book - I just couldn't pinpoint it. I can't wait to read this one. 3y
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Texreader
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In researching this book, the author kept encountering censored texts—trying to remove evidence of the women queens and leaders. This quote from the epilogue is inspiring.

Nute Oh, forgot my comment about the post!🤦🏽‍♀️ Its so important to search for truths...historical truths...that have been altered or obliterated. The search is never ending! 3y
GingerAntics This is sadly true about so many parts of history. The fact that people fight finding the truth and throw around the term “revisionist history” is ridiculous. I‘d love for them to actually learn what “revisionist history” was. They‘d find they were the ones pushing the revisionist history. 3y
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Texreader
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In the epilogue, the author ties his history of the Mongol queens to what was happening in the west. I really appreciate when authors do this, putting everything into context

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Texreader
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As Genghis Khan taught, “The good of anything is in finishing it.”

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Texreader
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I‘m glad I‘m not a nomad.

GingerAntics Sheesh, those are some strong women!!! 3y
CoverToCoverGirl Yikes! 😳 3y
59 likes2 comments
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Texreader
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Advice: take an ebook with you to get your vaccination! I got my first shot and I‘m reading the tagged book. Bonus points!

AmyG Congrats! 3y
Lovesbooks87 Yes! I took my earbuds so I could listen to an audiobook. I found out when I got there because of an allergy I had to wait 30 minutes instead of 15. (edited) 3y
rachelsbrittain Congrats on your shot! 3y
readordierachel Nice 👍🏼 3y
74 likes4 comments
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Texreader
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I thought I‘d figured out how to pronounce this Mongolian name and then realized the inconsistency in spelling. Pick one I guess!

GingerAntics Hm. That‘s frustrating. Maybe it‘s two different people? 3y
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Texreader
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Texreader
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In the learn something new everyday category, I just learned that the Mongolian queen‘s headdress, the boqta, inspired the European headdress, called the hennin. #readingasia2021 @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB

GingerAntics Who knew? Thats such an interesting connection. Imagine the first European women who wore one. 3y
BarbaraBB That‘s awesome! 3y
jessjess That's really interesting, and now I learned two new things today so thank you!! 3y
Librarybelle Fascinating! 3y
66 likes4 comments
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Texreader
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The artwork is lovely (see my previous post), and the chapter titles can cause a snicker, like “Raising a Husband.” That‘s what happens when a queen marries a 6-year-old and calls him khan. #readingasia2021 @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB

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Texreader
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Still slowly making my way through this book...I love the artwork of the Mongol women between book sections. #readingasia2021

Librarybelle Very nice! 3y
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Texreader
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Interesting history of the Silk Road

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Texreader
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wanderinglynn What a radical idea! 😆 3y
TrishB Imagine! 3y
The_Penniless_Author I read something once that explained how the Mongols were essentially hedging their bets - they had their own gods, but believed other cultures' gods existed as well, so for pragmatic purposes they thought it best to curry favor with as many as possible, just in case it turned out they were worshipping the wrong ones 🙂 3y
Texreader @The_Penniless_Author They appear to be an extremely pragmatic people, which makes sense for their mostly nomadic life. I love Weatherford‘s books about them. 3y
59 likes5 comments
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Texreader
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Ewww. I thought about quoting this sentence using emojis, but thought better of it...

GingerAntics That‘s all kinds of special. 🤦🏼‍♀️ 3y
MicheleinPhilly 😣Or you know, emblems of food poisoning. 3y
Librarybelle Well...that‘s different 😮 3y
Texreader @jenniferw88 It‘s excellent!! 3y
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Texreader
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Texreader
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Excellent book, second I‘ve read by this author about Genghis Khan. Loved it too.

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Texreader
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I‘ve never heard of this but if it worked it may have been a prevalent practice in the ancient past. Could this be one of the bases of the stories of vampirism? #readingasia2021 @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB

Librarybelle Wow! That‘s interesting! 3y
Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick Interesting! It very well could be a vampire origin story. 3y
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Texreader
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BarbaraBB Haha! 3y
Librarybelle Interesting 3y
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Texreader
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I find these “inheritances” fascinating!! #readingasia2021 @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB

GingerAntics This is a really interesting, and captivating honestly, chart. 3y
BarbaraBB Genghis Khan had that many kids? I never knew. But what DO I know about him except the obvious 🤣?! Sounds interesting! 3y
Copwithabook Weatherford wrote several books about Khan that I enjoyed. Extremely enlightening! 3y
Librarybelle These are indeed fascinating! 3y
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Texreader
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Librarybelle Good quote! 3y
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Texreader
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I‘ve decided to try this one for #readingasia2021. I loved Weatherford‘s book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (so good), so hopefully this‘ll be a good one too.

Librarybelle I‘ve heard this is good! 3y
bnp Now I want to read both this one and Genghis Khan. 3y
bnp And my public library owns two about Native American influence in North America. 3y
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Purpleness
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Only 18 days late! Finally finished #passportlitsy ! 45 countries, and lots of inspiring, thought-provoking, and memorable books I never would have found if I wasn‘t doing this challenge

rockpools Congratulations! That‘s an awesome achievement. Can you recommend a couple of your favourites? 5y
Purpleness Sure! For fiction: The Hero‘s Walk by Anita Rau Badami; Green Island by Shawna Yang Ryan; and Woman of Ashes by Mia Cuoto, and for non-fiction: Mighty Be Our Powers by Leymah Gbowee; Enemies and Neighbors by Ian Black; and The Secret History of the Mongol Queens by Jack Weatherford. Edit: just realised I didn‘t tag you, @RachelO (edited) 5y
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Purpleness
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The censors who sliced the pages did not destroy the history; they only hampered our ability to see it. #passportlitsy #Mongolia

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literarymermaid
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Pickpick

I never questioned what happened to his empire after Genghis Khan died and that turns out to have been a mistake. This is a fascinating history covering how he conquered and kept control and the generation after. The women of this empire were amazing!
Lovers of history and especially women's history should check this out! #herstory

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atenelli

#history#mongolia#women#2018

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iread2much
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Thanks so much @Djspens for all the lovely gifts! I can‘t wait to read this exciting book and my new mug makes my Akita mom pride shine! Sorry it took so long to post, but every time I uploaded a photo but it crashed the app 😞 thanks so much @BookaholicNatty for organizing!

Djspens You‘re welcome! I hope you enjoy it! I haven‘t heard of the book but I can appreciate anyone‘s love of chocolate😂 yes, thank you for organizing @BookaholicNatty it was a lot of fun! (edited) 6y
BookaholicNatty @iread2much that cup!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ I haven‘t heard of that book but I‘m sooo happy you loved it! @Djspens you were so smart to get her that cup!!! ❤️🎁 6y
Djspens @BookaholicNatty thank god for wish lists! I wasn‘t familiar with a lot of the items on there! But had fun learning! 6y
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BookaholicNatty @Djspens that‘s one thing I love about Elfster is you can make a wishlist! I think it‘s hard picking from the TBR list on Litsy because sometimes people already own those books 6y
TricksyTails 😍♥️🐶 That mug!!!! 6y
iread2much @TricksyTails yes! @Djspens nailed it with the Akita mug 😊 6y
18 likes6 comments
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DGRachel
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#killerqueen(s) from my Kindle #tbr. This was a #blameitonLitsy purchase. #melodicmay

readinginthedark This sounds awesome! 7y
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brennahawleycraig
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Mehso-so

This book was only meh to me. Fascinating women, dry and sometimes convoluted writing. So, I'm making up for it with cats times two! #catsoflitsy

rubyslippersreads 😻😻😻 7y
20 likes1 comment
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brennahawleycraig
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Within finishing range this week. Interesting info, dry writing, unfortunately. But if I finish this and my other book, I'm diving into a long read this weekend! I'm thinking Gone With the Wind.

LeahBergen Yes! Do it! 7y
Chrissyreadit It was dry in parts, but had enough interesting information that I liked it. 7y
brennahawleycraig @Chrissyreadit that's how I feel too. Lots of awesome women and lots of extra words. 7y
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abbeyreads
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I've got some nonfiction to get through.....

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Leslie
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Xmas is progressing as desired

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wen4blu
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Pickpick

"In creating her own destiny, she also chose the destiny of her nation." The Mongol Queens ruled the Silk Route as warriors while supporting religious freedoms, education and women within their empire. There were so many players that I often lost track, but overall I learned a lot about this interesting section of history.

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wen4blu
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Genghis Khan: warrior, conquerer, eventually gives power to rule his empire to women. I missed that history lesson!

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Alisnazzy
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Oooooh this looks so interesting and it's only $1.99. I know I'm more of a physical book kind of gal, but these Kindle deals are opening my literary world.

Leelee08 Me too! I'd much rather read a physical book, but these $1.99 ebooks are killing me! I think I've bought 8 within the last two weeks....😂 7y
DGRachel This looks really interesting. Have you read any of Conn Iggulden's Conqueror series (all about Genghis Khan)? 7y
Alisnazzy @DGRachel I have not but it's now on my TBR. Thanks!!! ☺️ 7y
DGRachel @Ambrosnazzy always happy to help build TBRs. #litsyenabler 😂 7y
Arcana I have more books on my Kindle than I will ever be able to read! Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by Amazon's low prices, but other times I'm just grateful for the instant gratification 😂 I'd rather buy a book from an Indy store, but isn't always practical. #ConfessionsofaBookAddict 7y
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