I have severe issues with this book. It's the standard biography of Genghis/Chinggis Khan, and how I wish that wasn't so. On a positive note, it's stuffed full of information.

Its most egregious negative: have other people noticed this weird habit? Time and again he writes a paragraph, and at the end tacks on a sentence, 'which was because he was a power-mad tyrant'. And you go, eh? Where'd that come from? As a conclusion... there's nothing to suggest he was, in the paragraph. Or at least, the facts he gives in the paragraph can be interpreted in quite another way. It's like he thought, oops, I haven't mentioned lately, 'and he was a power-mad tyrant' - lest the gist of my paragraph be misunderstood.

Rave over. But if you want a cogent portrait of Genghis, do not come here: he doesn't attempt one. Other people attempt one, and you can argue with them, of course; 12th-13th century figures are hard to pin down. This author, however, is merely confused on what sort of person he thinks Genghis was. The two stars are for the info.