Genghis Khan

I finished Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World recently.  (Author Jack Weatherford.)  Some thoughts follow ...

From the dust jacket:

"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."

First off, that's the first time I've ever seen 'revisionist history' used proudly  ;  )

In the comments I'm going to lay out some of the themes Weatherford's narrative evokes.  Starting tonight yet  ;  )

New Computer

I got a new computer today ...

Letter to Wisconsin State Journal

I read George Will's columns, when I do, knowing that his blend of snark and ultraconservative ideology is seldom illuminating and only occasionally entertaining.  His take on Oregon's semi-concession to practicality in allowing some self-service gas stations to begin operation is mildly amusing, but he also unconsciously shares with us a bit of skewed, 'white' thinking when he refers to Oregon as "the state that was settled by people who trekked there on the Oregon trail."  This statement presupposes that Oregon was 'unsettled' until these (white) 'settlers' arrived.

 From Wikipedia: "By the 16th Century, Oregon was home to many Native American groups, including the Chinook, Coquille, Bannock, Chasta, Kalapuya, Klamath, Klickitat, Molalla, Nez Perce, Takelma, Killamuk, Neah-kah-nie, Umatilla and Umpqua."  All of them 'civilized' and all of them quite 'settled.'  

Anyone care to guess why he so easily discounts them?

Better Late Than Never

Here is the list of books that I read in 2017.  It's the shortest list since I've started keeping track; not sure why, especially ...

Bush, Jean Edward Smith

Stranger In A Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein

A Struggle For Power: The American Revolution
Theodore Draper

Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe
Laurence Bergreen

Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, Charles Leerhsen

Millennium: From Religion to Revolution: How Civilization Has Changed Over a Thousand Years, Ian Mortimer

The Year The Yankees Lost The Pennant, Douglass Wallop

Sting Like A Bee: Muhammad Ali vs. The United States of America, 1966-1971
Leigh Montville

Eisenhower, In War and Peace, Jean Edward Smith

LIES My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen