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  • The Secret History of the Mongol Queens

  • How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire
  • By: Jack Weatherford
  • Narrated by: Robertson Dean
  • Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (68 ratings)
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The Secret History of the Mongol Queens

By: Jack Weatherford
Narrated by: Robertson Dean
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Summary

The Mongol queens of the thirteenth century ruled the greatest 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 father’s legacy for his daughters remained of a much larger story. The queens of the Silk Route turned their father’s conquests into the world’s 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 the Islamic world.

At the conclusion of his magnificently researched and groundbreaking narrative, Jack Weatherford notes that 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, Weatherford restores the queens’ missing chapter to the annals of history.

©2010 Jack Weatherford (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"Uplifting, entertaining history.”—Kirkus Reviews

What listeners say about The Secret History of the Mongol Queens

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    5 out of 5 stars

Well written, interesting, enligtening

I have bought this book to learn about Mongolia and as a co-listening book to Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by the same author. Both books are giving a complex view of Mongolian history roughly since Genghis Khan's birth till discovery of America by Columbus. The Mongol Queen's history is something new and fresh, something we do not learn in school and do not often hear of in educative media. Most people are familiar with Genghis Khan but I bet noone knows and is interested in his wifes, doughters and other female relatives, even though they formed an undisputable part in history and without their influence and interference the course of events would take completely different turns. I was happy to learn that they were not just nameless persons in the background but that they were able to capture the power and be real queens, respected and counted on. Compared to other nations of that time period Mongolian women were experiencing more freedom and opportunities than was habitual and some of them were able to use this advantage to pursue their ambitions
I enjoyed this book as well as narration that was clear and comfortable to listen to. I am tempted to buy this book in printed form for future reference and possible re-reading.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Scholarly, interesting view

I enjoyed it - it provides a new view of a society considered male dominated. Poor old Ghengis had a whole bunch of useless sons, but some pretty canny daughters. This history is constructed from fragments and folklore, but it hangs together nicely.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Highly recommended

loved it. in my view it is better than the first one. intriguing, surprising, captivating.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A great book

Very insightful piece of historical investigation and delivered in a very meaningful and captivating manner.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Detail

Jack is for me the pre eminent historian on the mongals. His previous book was a joy to read and this is no different. Beautiful and impressive, this history should be heard

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Kind of blew my mind!

I knew I had to get this book after hearing about it on a podcast (What’s Her Name), and as I expected it kind of blew my mind.
It should come with a trigger warning, let’s just say that some pretty awful things also happened in the past, and quite rightly for a history book, it wasn’t glossed over, but it did feel like a gut punch.
I immediately bought this book for a friend of mine, and may have to buy a hard copy for myself for reference.

The work here to uncover a proud and rich history of women in the Mongolian Empire is wonderful and frankly I feel a must to anyone interested in history - so often I’ve been told in my life about how people of my sex just haven’t done things in the past…no! They did! They were quite literally written and torn out of history!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

pretty amazing, narrator not to my taste though

A load of this is pretty fascinating.

It can be quite hard to follow, but there were always going to be lots of people in Mongol history.
Narrator has a deep resonant voice that is clear, but other than that his reading was quite mediocre.

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