Hidden Half Book Club discussion
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The Secret History of the Mongol Queens
December 2023 - The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire (Jack Weatherford)
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To get the discussion going, here a few questions:
1. What did you learn in the first half of this book that surprised you - about the women of the Mongol Empire or otherwise?
2. Has reading this book so far changed any preconceptions you had about Genghis Khan and the Mongols?
3. What has been the role of religion and spirituality in the history so far?
These are just some ideas - feel free to answer some, none or all of the above. What do we all think so far?
Half way through this wonderful book. I had a rudimentary knowledge of Ghengis Khan and the first third of this book totally blew me away. The strategic thinking that allowed him to create such a huge empire from so little in only 20 years. I was not expecting any of this and the roles all these women played. But his strategy was supplemented by strong sense of family and what women had to offer. Just amazing that he was so “ advanced” in his thinking. He had a really solid grasp of people and their potential, how to motivate them, how to get rid of them and when to leave them alone to do their best. After he dies (spoiler alert!) the battles begin anew.
I am enjoying this book *very* much. I had only a very rough outline of Genghis Khan life, and mostly in the context of Europe, so this has been incredibly interesting!1. I honestly hadn't realized how much power he'd given the women around him - his wives, his daughters, even his daughters-in-law, and especially how counter to his culture it was; it really didn't seem to have much institutional support outside him and some specific cultural institutions (tents, for example).
2. It just gives such larger cultural depth to both him and them. From the Western (and Chinese, I'd imagine) perspective, the Mongol is such an enigma - this inhuman force that just comes sweeping out of nowhere, killing untold people for no reason and then just....receding again, like the tide. Even histories that give a bit more context for Mongol culture have them bust in an out of the narrative. This gives them a lot of context, and continuity to where they came from, what happened, why the huge cultural clashes, and what led to their retrenchment (alcohol, a lot of the time, it sounds like).
3. The narrative gave me the impression that while Genghis Khan had a strong sense of spirituality, that didn't seem to be passed along to his family, though the there was a commonality of taboos. Generally, Mongol culture is given the impression of being religiously very malleable, as long as whatever religion they are encountering can be adapted to their way of life.
Mod
So for our last minutes of the year, let’s discuss! What did we think?
1. This book was a whirlwind of women. Which khatun’s story stood out to you the most? Why?
2. The Mongol Empire has so many unusual features - nomadic courts, religious tolerance, cults of personality, and so much more. How much do we think the unique aspects of the Mongols influenced the shape, structure and longevity of their Empire?
3. How did concepts of gender play into the power held by Genghis Khan’s immediate family in the first chapters vs Manduhai’s experience?
Share your thoughts on these questions - or any other reflections - in the comments below!
And finally, hope you stick around for 2024, when we start off with Book of Queens: The True Story of the Middle Eastern Horsewomen Who Fought the War on Terror.
This book was so good! Definitely one of my favorites! Unfortunately I finished before Christmas and returned it to the library, so I'll be working from memory.1. I really liked the woman nearer the end (no names, since book has been returned) where she rescued the sickly maybe-heir and raised him half as son half as future husband, just because she seemed to have such a clear eye of what worked and didn't work for her people's culture.
2. I....don't? Because for ages the unusual features were what caused their empire to *fall apart*...until they didn't. I don't think there is a particular type of government or culture that leads to a successful empire, there are a number of ways it can happen. More important, I think, is the geography of the Mongol homelands, the way that its inability in most places to support permanent settlements and large populations encouraged dispersion of power and change.
3. ...gonna have to skip this one, because without the book I don't quite remember which one Manduhai is (names are...hard)
Mod
1. I really liked the woman nearer ..."
Thanks, Katherine! You are indeed thinking of Manduhai. I agree, that final section of the book was great, and I was surprised how little I had known about her story.
I also totally agree that the geography of the Steppes had a huge impact on the shape, etc. of the Mongol Empire. But I got the feeling that this was a very unstable empire, it barely managed to stay in one form for more than a few decades at a time. I wondered whether that had to do with the lack of social controls that many other empires put in place - deep bureaucracies, puppet governments, cultural control, elimination of local beliefs. Anyway, these were idle thoughts, and they probably just mean I have to go read Jack Weatherford's other books on Genghis Khan!
This book has everything: the history of the silk road, warrior queens and (I'm hoping) extensive discussion of 13th C approaches to governance!
As usual I'll throw out some discussion questions in the middle of the month and at the end, but comments and reflections are welcome at any time. Just post your thoughts here in this thread.
Happy reading!