Jack Weatherford

La contribution des peuples amérindiens à notre histoire collective est inestimable. Techniques agricoles et nouvelles habitudes alimentaires (plus de la moitié des aliments consommés aujourd’hui vie

Genghis Khan built a formidable land empire, but he never crossed the sea. Yet by the time his grandson Kublai Khan had defeated the last vestiges of the Song empire and established the Yuan dynasty in 1279, the Mongols controlled the most powerful navy in the world. How did a nomad come to conquer China and master the sea? Based on ten years of research and a lifetime of immersion in Mongol culture and tradition, Emperor of the Seas brings this little-known story vibrantly to life.Kublai Khan is one of history's most fascinating characters. He brought Islamic mathematicians to his court, where they invented modern cartography and celestial measurement. He transformed the world's largest land mass into a unified, diverse and economically progressive empire, introducing paper money. And, after bitter early setbacks, he transformed China into an outward looking sea-faring empire.By the end of his reign, the Chinese were building and supplying remarkable ships to transport men, grain, and weapons over vast distances, of a size and dexterity that would be inconceivable in Europe for hundreds of years. Khan had come to a brilliant realization: control the sea, and you control everything.A master storyteller with an unparalleled grasp of Mongol sources, Jack Weatherford shows how Chinese naval hegemony changed the world forever - revolutionizing world commerce and transforming tastes as far away as England and France.

A provocative [and] vivid (Minneapolis Star Tribune) look at the primitive cultures that have given many gifts to the modern world, and how their very existence is now threatened This book should serve as a wake-up call to people everywhere.Library JournalIn Indian Givers and Native Roots, renowned anthropologist Jack Weatherford explored the clash between Native American and European cultures. Now, in Savages and Civilization, Weatherford broadens his focus to examine how civilization threatens to obliterate unique tribal and ethnic cultures around the worldand in the process imperils its own existence. As Weatherford explains, the relationship between civilized and savage peoples through history has encompassed not only violence, but also a surprising degree of cooperation, mutual influence, trade, and intermarriage. But this relationship has now entered a critical stage everywhere in the world, as indigenous peoples fiercely resist the onslaught of a global civilization that will obliterate their identities. Savages and Civilization powerfully demonstrates that our survival as a species is based not on a choice between savages and civilization, but rather on a commitment to their vital coexistence.

A fascinating romp through the feminine side of the infamous Khan clan (Booklist) by the author featured in Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis KhanEnticing . . . hard to put down.Associated PressThe Mongol queens of the thirteenth century ruled the largest empire the world has ever known. The daughters of the Silk Route turned their fathers conquests into the 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. Yet sometime near the end of the century, censors cut a section about the queens from the Secret History of the Mongols, and, with that one act, the dynasty of these royals had seemingly been extinguished forever, as even their names were erased from the historical record. With The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, a groundbreaking and magnificently researched narrative, Jack Weatherford restores the queens missing chapter to the annals of history.

An utterly compelling story of how the cultural, social, and political practices of Native Americans transformed the way life is lived throughout the world, with a new introduction by the authorAs entertaining as it is thoughtful . . . Few contemporary writers have Weatherfords talent for making the deep sweep of history seem vital and immediate.The Washington PostAfter 500 years, the worlds huge debt to the wisdom of the Native Americans has finally been explored in all its vivid drama by anthropologist Jack Weatherford. He traces the crucial contributions made by the Native Americans to our federal system of government, our democratic institutions, modern medicine, agriculture, architecture, and ecology, and in this astonishing, ground-breaking book takes a giant step toward recovering a true American history.

An utterly compelling story of how the cultural, social, and political practices of Native Americans transformed the way life is lived throughout the world, with a new introduction by the authorAs entertaining as it is thoughtful . . . Few contemporary writers have Weatherfords talent for making the deep sweep of history seem vital and immediate.The Washington PostAfter 500 years, the worlds huge debt to the wisdom of the Native Americans has finally been explored in all its vivid drama by anthropologist Jack Weatherford. He traces the crucial contributions made by the Native Americans to our federal system of government, our democratic institutions, modern medicine, agriculture, architecture, and ecology, and in this astonishing, ground-breaking book takes a giant step toward recovering a true American history.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The startling true history of how one extraordinary man from a remote corner of the world created an empire that led the world into the modern ageby the author featured in Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Khan.The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in twenty-five years than the Romans did in four hundred. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization. Vastly more progressive than his European or Asian counterparts, Genghis Khan abolished torture, granted universal religious freedom, and smashed feudal systems of aristocratic privilege. From the story of his rise through the tribal culture to the explosion of civilization that the Mongol Empire unleashed, this brilliant work of revisionist history is nothing less than the epic story of how the modern world was made.

Gracefully written . . . thoroughly researched . . . America is a banquet prepared by the Indianswho were forgotten when it was time to give thanks at the table.St. Paul Pioneer-ExpressWell written, imagery-ridden . . . A tale of what was, what became, and what is today regarding the Indian relation to the European civilization that grafted itself onto this ancient stemMinneapolis Star TribuneIn Indian Givers, anthropologist Jack Weatherford revealed how the cultural, social, and political practices of the American Indians transformed the world. In Native Roots, Weatherford focuses on the vital role Indian civilizations have played in the making of the United States. Conventional American history holds that the white settlers of the New World re-created the societies they had known in England, France, and Spain. But, as Weatherford so brilliantly shows, Europeans in fact grafted their civilizations onto the deep and nourishing roots of Native American customs and beliefs. Beneath the glass-and-steel skyscrapers of contemporary Manhattan lies an Indian fur-trading post. Behind the tactics of modern guerrilla warfare are the lightning-fast maneuvers of the Plains Indians. Our place names, our farming and hunting techniques, our crafts, and the very blood that flows in our veinsall derive from American Indians in ways that we consistently fail to see. In Weatherfords words, Without understanding Native Americans, we will never know who we are today in America.

If youre interested in the revolutionary transformation of the meaning and use of money, this is the book to read!Charles R. SchwabCultural anthropologist Jack Weatherford traces our relationship with money, from primitive mans cowrie shells to the electronic cash card, from the markets of Timbuktu to the New York Stock Exchange. The History of Money explores how money and the myriad forms of exchange have affected humanity, and how they will continue to shape all aspects of our liveseconomic, political, and personal. A fascinating book about the force that makes the world go roundthe dollars, pounds, francs, marks, bahts, ringits, kwansas, levs, biplwelles, yuans, quetzales, paangas, ngultrums, ouguiyas, and other 200-odd brand names that collectively make up the mysterious thing we call money.Los Angeles Times

The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in twenty-?ve years than the Romans did in four hundred. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization. Vastly more progressive than his European or Asian counterparts, Genghis Khan abolished torture, granted universal religious freedom, and smashed feudal systems of aristocratic privilege. From the story of his rise through the tribal culture to the explosion of civilization that the Mongol Empire unleashed, this brilliant work of revisionist history is nothing less than the epic story of how the modern world was made.

La biografía definitiva del fundador del imperio más grande de la historia. En veinticinco años, Gengis Kan y sus ejércitos mongoles conquistaron más que los romanos en cuatro siglos, y fundaron el

En 1937, durante las persecuciones de Stalin, el alma de Genghis Khan desapareció del monasterio budista de Mongolia donde se había guardado durante siglos. Se pretendía eliminar hasta el recuerdo de quien era considerado como un tirano sangriento.Hasta que el descubrimiento de un manuscrito de la Historia secreta de los mongoles, que se creia perdida, hizo surgir a la luz la verdad sobre el hombre que conquisto un imperio mayor que el de Roma y asento en el las bases de una civilizacion y un progreso que anunciaban el mundo moderno. El profesor Waeatherford comenzo en 1990 a recorrer las rutas seguidas por Genghis Khan en Asia y a trabajar en equipo con arqueologos e historiadores hasta conseguir esta asombrosa recontruccion de la vida del gran conquistador y de la historia de la guerra mundial de los mongoles, que nos explica en un libro extraordinario, que ha figurado en lugar destacado en las listas de bestsellers del New York Times. Porque, como ha dicho la critica, Weatherford es, ademas, una narrador maravilloso.

Los mongoles y la fascinante historia del ascenso del poder naval chino Gengis Kan construyó un imperio terrestre formidable, pero jamás cruzó el mar. Sin embargo, cuando su nieto Kublai Kan conquis

Entre la fin du XIIe et le début du XIIIe siècle, les armées mongoles de Gengis Khan ont conquis en une génération plus de terres et soumis plus de populations que Rome en 400 ans. Avec ses fils et p

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 worlds 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 worlds 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 Genghiss 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.