**A landmark biography by the New York Times bestselling author of
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World that reveals how
Genghis harnessed the power of religion to rule the largest empire the
world has ever known.
**
Throughout history the world's greatest conquerors have made their mark
not just on the battlefield, but in the societies they have transformed.
Genghis Khan conquered by arms and bravery, but he ruled by commerce and
religion. He created the world's greatest trading network and
drastically lowered taxes for merchants, but he knew that if his empire
was going to last, he would need something stronger and more binding
than trade. He needed religion. And so, unlike the Christian, Taoist and
Muslim conquerors who came before him, he gave his subjects freedom of
religion. Genghis lived in the 13th century, but he struggled with many
of the same problems we face today: How should one balance religious
freedom with the need to reign in fanatics? Can one compel rival
religions - driven by deep seated hatred--to live together in peace?
A celebrated anthropologist whose bestselling Genghis Khan and the
Making of the Modern World radically transformed our understanding of
the Mongols and their legacy, Jack Weatherford has spent eighteen years
exploring areas of Mongolia closed until the fall of the Soviet Union
and researching The Secret History of the Mongols, an astonishing
document written in code that was only recently discovered. He pored
through archives and found groundbreaking evidence of Genghis's
influence on the founding fathers and his essential impact on Thomas
Jefferson. Genghis Khan and the Quest for God is a masterpiece of
erudition and insight, his most personal and resonant work.
