About Time I Read It: Forgotten Ally by Rana Mitter

After someone in my Facebook group raved about Rana Mitter’s Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II, 1937–1945 last April I borrowed a copy from my local public library only to return it a few weeks later  unread. But after I hearing Mitter as a panelist discussing the Sino-Japanese War on an archived episode of the BBC podcast In Our Time my interest in the book was rekindled. So I bought a copy of his 2013 book and this time around I eagerly dived into Forgotten Ally. I was not disappointed.

Forgotten Ally could be called a history of the Sino-Japanese War in three acts. With the opening act doubling as a prologue, Mitter explores the two drastically different development paths China and Japan beginning in the 1800s that resulted in China becoming easy prey for an ascendant Japan.

By the early 19th century as the Western powers were imposing their dominance across Asia. China, once one of the most advanced civilizations on earth was a declining power. The kingdom’s civil service, once the envy of the world, steadfastly refused to keep up with the times, slavishly valuing knowledge of the Confucian classics over science, technology and modern statecraft. Britain learned it could make money hand over fist selling opium to the Chinese, realizing the Chinese were powerless to stop them, thanks to Britain’s modern army and navy. This led to not one but two Opium Wars, a horrific civil war, the disastrous Boxer Rebellion and eventually the overthrow of the ruling Manchu dynasty and its replacement by a republic.

But the rulers of the young republic had little authority outside the  capital city. Much of China was run by provincial warlords with major port cities like Canton and Shanghai little more than foreign-run enclaves. Much like Italy and Germany before the late 19th century  China was seen by many as a mere geographical expression not a sovereign, unified nation.

Enter Japan. When confronted by the imperialist powers of the West Japan opted to modernize, beginning by transforming what had been a collection of rival feudal entities into a unified empire. The newly-established kingdom’s forwarding looking leaders then scoured the West in search of best practices they could adopt to create a modern, industrialized nation by modernizing its military and educational system as well as transportation and communication networks. Half-century later these bold measures would pay off huge dividends, making Japan an up and coming nation to be reckoned with. It defeated its two main rivals, China and Russia in two separate wars at the turn of the 20th century. A decade later it entered World War I on the side of the Allies, declaring war on Imperial Germany and taking its colonial holdings in Asia and the Pacific.

Embolden by a half century of military success this would set the stage for the middle act. Japan, much like Britain, saw China as ripe for exploiting. Rich in resources both natural and human, but divided and weak Japan began by conquering Manchuria in 1931 where it set up a puppet regime friendly to its interests. By 1937 Japan unleashed its military on the rest of China with devastating results. Although wide swaths of the country were occupied, including all of its major cities the Japanese were never able to delivery the decisive knock-out blow. China’s leaders, be they Nationalist or Communists refused to surrender but battled on.

Confronted by Japanese aggression, and even with some parts of China under the control of warlords and Chinese collaborationist armies operating in occupied areas, the Chinese were uniting as a people against a common enemy. In addition, the more Chinese civilians suffered from Japanese military aggression (especially aerial bombing raids) the more they looked to the Nationalist government to protect them. In turn, the more desperate things became, the more Nationalist leaders looked to the civilian population to carry the burden of fighting the Japanese. (Like the willingness to allow increased military conscription and higher taxes, in cash or in kind to support the war effort.) These changes in the dynamics between ruler and ruled would forever change the political landscape of modern China, especially under the new Communist regime that emerged after World War II and the Chinese Civil War that followed it

Speaking of profound changes, the third and concluding act is the Sino-Japanese War’s impact on China. After years of fighting the Japanese the Nationalists were bled white. The Communists, on the other hand fighting more as a guerrilla force did not, compared to their rivals the Nationalists take as heavy losses. Secure in their holdout Mao and his inner circle were able to consolidate control over the Party emerged after the Japan’s surrender a unified and stronger force compared to the Nationalists. Once the Chinese Civil War resumed in the wake of Japan’s surrender the Communists would go on to defeat the Nationalists and rule China.

But there’s another lasting legacy that’s overlooked. After Japan attacked American, British and Dutch interests in Asia and the Pacific  China, almost by default joined the Allies. Even if in principle alone, America and Britain had to consider China an equal partner in the wartime relationship. This elevated China to a kind of great power status, evident by the victorious allies granting the nation a permanent Security Council Seat at the newly-founded United Nations. (Although it would take decades for the ruling Communists to take official possession of the seat from the Taiwan-based Nationalists.) Even after the Communist victory in 1949 China was seen as major power and not the backwards and impotent country deserved of foreign exploitation as it had been for all of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th.

Forgotten Ally is both well-researched and well-written. Not only do I have no reservations recommending it there’s a good chance it will make my Favorite Nonfiction list come December.

20 Books of Summer: Empty Planet by John Ibbitson and Darrell Bricker

For a relatively small country, population-wise Canada has produced some impressive writers, especially in the field of politics. Weighing in on opposite sides of the immigration debate are Bruce Bawer with While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within and Doug Saunders with The Myth of the Muslim Tide: Do Immigrants Threaten the West? Back in 2011, before 4chan became a platform for QAnon’s absurd conspiracy theories Jonathan Kay explored and debunked the dark world of conspiracy theories in his book Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America’s Growing Conspiracist Underground. Lastly, even the ultra-conservative pundit Mark Steyn, author of a host of books including America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It is Canadian, even if he currently resides in the United States.

In that regard America’s neighbor to the North continues to punch above its weight. A few weeks ago at the public library I picked up a copy of Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson’s Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline. With their 2019 book the two Canadians make a bold and compelling claim: In the near future the world’s population will not explode but precipitously decline.

After being told for years we’ve been sitting on a ticking population bomb at first it’s hard to take the two authors’ claim seriously. You ask why is global population going to decline within the next 40 to 50 years? The answer is everyday, the world is becoming more and more modern.

A key component of modernization is urbanization. The bulk of the world’s population resides or is  predicted to reside not on farms or in villages but in cities. Urban families aren’t engaged in labor intensive farm work, so families are smaller. Living in cities makes it’s harder for conservative elements like their parents and in-laws, churches and mosques to pressure them into having lots of children. It’s also easier for city-dwelling women to obtain reliable birth control and receive helpful family planning advice. Lastly, more and more cities around the world are joining the global economy, leading to an explosion of service sector “knowledge jobs” throughout the world, especially in South and East Asia. These jobs require an educated workforce, prompting more women to delay marriage in order to attend college. Once in the workforce, many women continue to delay marriage and with it motherhood since it’s seen as a career impediment. So, as the world urbanizes it starts having fewer children. Once a country dips below the birthrate of 2.1 children per couple its population begins to contract, then collapse.

According to Bricker and Ibbitson, there’s both good and bad things on the horizon. Lower population should put less pressure on the environment, resources and the global food supply. Potentially, it could also lead to lower unemployment, since there’d be less competion for jobs. With fewer global births, the population ages and the authors speculate this could lead to a “geriatric peace” since there’ll be fewer young hot-heads in positions of power.

On the other hand, without a huge pool of young workers it will be harder for countries, especially in Europe and East Asia to generate the taxes needed to pay for the retirement and medical expenses of a ballooning population of seniors. On a related note, the United States, Canada and the countries of Europe will no longer depend of young immigrants to replenish their employment rolls and help prop-up their birthrates. (This could get worse if today’s anti-immigration sentiment leaves a lasting legacy around the developed world.)

If, after reading Empty Planet you’d like to get another perspective on where the world might be going, I’d encourage you to read Ian Bremmer’s Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism. I suspect Empty Planet is one of those books that will be embraced, debated, attacked, and in the end highly influential. That alone is enough for me to recommend it.

20 Books of Summer: In The Ruins Of Empire by Ronald H. Spector

Back in June when I announced to the world my 20 Books of Summer did any of you really think I’d stick to my list? Well, neither did I. Sure, it would have felt great to whip through all those books stacked on my porch. Truth is, not only am I a slow reader but I have no self control. That means if I come across a promising book, I wanna read it. But hey, at least I’m reading good books.

I’ve been wanting to read Ronald H. Specter’s In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia for years, ever since a highly erudite former co-worker of mine raved about it. Recently, I came across a copy of Specter’s 2007 book during one of my weekend library visits and whatever intentions I had in sticking to my original 20 Books of Summer promptly went out the window. Luckily for me, In the Ruins of Empire might have been one of the best books of the summer and thus might make my Favorite Books of Summer list.

When Imperial Japan formally surrendered on September 2, 1945 it was a vanquished nation. With its navy smashed, airforce decimated and cities smouldering ruins (two by atomic bombs) many assumed militarily it was a spent force and before long throughout East Asia things would return to how it was before the War. Specifically, the Dutch, French and British would reestablish control over their respective colonies of the Dutch East Indies, Indochina and Malaya. Korea, after a half century of Japanese rule would regain its independence. After years of fighting and occupation Japanese troops would promptly leave China, allowing rival Nationalists and Communists to hammer out a US-sponsored peace deal and jointly rebuild the shattered, impoverished country.

Or not. Even after the Soviets drove the Japanese out of Manchuria and the northern half of Korea by war’s end millions of Japanese troops remained throughout East Asia. (On one Indonesian island alone there were 80,000 Japanese.) Complicating things even more, none of these troops had ever tasted defeat. And now they were expected to surrender and follow orders from the victorious Allies.

In the ruins of Japan’s former overseas empire, a new post-war world began to emerge. Indonesian Nationalists, benefits of a cozy relationship with their former Japanese overlords actively resisted the return of Dutch rule, and did so armed with weapons seized from Japanese armories. The Ho Chi Minh -led Viet Minh proclaimed an independent Vietnam, much to the displeasure of the French. In Korea, Russian forces occupied the northern half of the country while Americans held the rest, leading to yet another war, one that would end in stalemate and produce a lasting division that exists to this day. Lastly, after a brief truce Nationalists and Communists would resume their civil war, both sides fortified in varying degrees by Japanese advisors, weapons and former puppet soldiers.

In the Ruins of Empire is a great companion to Keith Lowe’s Savage Continent. For those interested in modern history, especially that of Asia, it’s hard to go wrong with this book.

2018 In Review: My Favorite Nonfiction

Yikes, the year is almost over and I haven’t done My Favorite Nonfiction of 2018 post. I better get cracking because 2019 is mere hours away. And to make matters worse, 2018 was a strong year for nonfiction and I read a ton of great books. Therefore, limiting my list to just 12 is going to be going to be hard. After a lot of thought I’ve narrowed it down to these outstanding works of nonfiction. Of course, it doesn’t matter when the books were published; all that matters is they’re excellent. As always, they’re listed in no particular order.

• Fascism: A Warning by Madeleine K. Albright
• When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry by Gal Beckerman
• She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity by Carl Zimmer
• Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China by Paul French
• The Book Smugglers: Partisans, Poets, and the Race to Save Jewish Treasures from the Nazis by David E. Fishman
• Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World’s Most Notorious Nazi by Neal Bascomb
• Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
• Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics by Lawrence O’Donnell
• An Iron Wind: Europe Under Hitler by Peter Fritzsche
• The Long Road Home: The Aftermath of the Second World War by Ben Shephard
• God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson
• Fleeing Fundamentalism: A Minister’s Wife Examines Faith by Carlene Cross

As you can see, this list reflects my reading interests. It’s heavy on history, especially that of World War II and the Holocaust. I’m happy to report eight of these books came from the public library, with four of those complete unknowns until I spotted them on the shelf. Three books on this list I purchased years ago. One, Fascism: A Warning, I borrowed from a friend.

As difficult as it was to choose the year’s 12 best, harder still was selecting an overall favorite. For months I went back and forth between Lawrence O’Donnell’s Playing with Fire and Gal Beckerman’s When They Come for Us, We’ll Be Gone. After much thought I’ve decided to break with tradition and declare a tie. These two books will share the honor of being my favorite nonfiction book of 2018.

About Time I Read It: Pacific by Simon Winchester

Years ago my local newspaper featured a glowing review of a book whose author up to then had been a complete stranger to me. Judging from that review, Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary sounded like a heck of a book. Not long after it was released in paperback (and hearing some great word of mouth) I purchased a copy at Powell’s. From start to finish, Winchester’s 1998 book never ceased to entertain me. Who would have thought a book about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary would make such wonderful reading?

Sadly, as much as I loved The Professor and the Madman I’ve read only one other Simon Winchester book. Back in 2011 I read his The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom and while I might not have enjoyed it as much as I did The Professor and the Madman nevertheless I found it an enjoyable read. Recently, I decided to give one of Winchester’s books a shot. Bestowed with the brief title and lengthy subtitle of Pacific: Silicon Chips and Surfboards, Coral Reefs and Atom Bombs, Brutal Dictators, Fading Empires, and the Coming Collision of the World’s Superpowers, sounded like a book I could sink my teeth into. And believe me, I did.

Pacific is a kind of hybrid travelogue combining history, geography, geology, climatology and international relations. In his book Winchester show readers the diversity, greatness and rising geopolitical importance of the region encompassing the world’s largest ocean. Much like science historian, broadcaster and fellow Brit James Burke, for each chapter Winchester focuses on two seemingly unrelated historical events. But in the end, after showing both their connectedness and vital significance he ties the loose ends together thus creating an informative and entertaining book.

However, I’m concerned Winchester’s book might possess a few factual errors. Early on he calls the island Guam a republic, which according to Wikipedia is “unincorporated and organized territory of the United States in Micronesia.” Later in the book, when describing the 1975 Fall of South Vietnam he describes Saigon being surrounded by Viet Cong army units as opposed to North Vietnamese troops. Lastly, he includes Germany as one of the European nations possessing colonies in South East Asia. With the exception of a few South Pacific islands and the settlement in Shandong, China Germany had no territories even close to South East Asia. (Unless of course you want to count German New Guinea.)

Lapses in fact-checking or not, Pacific is a pretty good book. It also makes a worthy companion read to Robert Kaplan’s 2010 book Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power. With Pacific under my belt, I think I’ll finally tackle Winchester’s 2010 offering Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories. If that’s the case, get ready to see yet another Simon Winchester book featured on my blog.

Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War

Some of you might remember one of my Five Bookish Links posts in which I posted a link to a piece that appeared in Small Wars Journal. In the article, James King asked members of INTELST forum, a group of almost 4000 current and former Military Intelligence professionals what they thought are the best books for intelligence analysts. What I neglected to mention in my post is according to King “while the list is composed of mostly non-fiction there are a few fiction books.  One of these fiction books, Ghost Fleet, was nominated more than any other book on the list.”

If there’s a consensus among 4000 military intelligence experts the novel Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War should be required reading then this is a novel I need to read. Luckily for me, I was able to borrow a downloadable copy through my public library’s Overdrive portal. Inspired by King’s recommendation I quickly went to work on the Ghost Fleet and because it’s such a page-turner I blew through it in only a few days.

Ghost Fleet takes place approximately 10 years in the future. China is ruled by the Directorate, a junta of military strong men and civilian business leaders. Believing the United States stands in the way of China’s continued ascendency as a world power, and confident in their nation’s technological and military prowess the Directorate authorizes a sneak attack on American forces in East Asia and the Pacific. Just as the Germans enlisted the declining power of Austria-Hungary as their junior partner in World War I, the Directorate adds Russia as its junior partner attacking US bases in Japan, Guam and Hawaii. Before long America’s Pacific-based Aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines have been destroyed, its spy and GPS satellites have been shot to pieces and Hawaii is under Chinese occupation.

Alas, this is not your grandfather’s World War III novel. When the call goes out for assistance at America’s hour of need it’s answered by a diverse cast of heroes. A former Sudanese “Lost Boy” now Silicon Valley mogul recruits the best and brightest minds in the business to take down China’s IT infrastructure. A flamboyant Aussie biotech billionaire (a kind of ethnic Indian version of Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban rolled into one) who, styling himself a modern-day privateer, seeks America’s blessing for his efforts to pillage Chinese military assets. A  university-based Chinese-American female scientist whose expertise in designing massive batteries is a potential military game changer. As Hawaii  suffers under Chinese occupation a gang of American servicemen and servicewomen calling themselves the North Shore Mujahideen engage in high-tech assisted hit and run attacks on the Islands’ occupiers. Lastly, a female serial killer, as beautiful as she is emotionally damaged, has been haunting the bars and beaches of Honolulu brutally murdering Chinese occupiers one by one.

To dismiss Ghost Fleet by saying it’s not high-class literature misses the point. Not only is it an exciting page-turner but those in the know have praised the book to high heaven. When an American Admiral proclaims the book is “a startling blueprint for the wars of the future and therefore needs to be read now!” if for that reason alone I’ll recommend Ghost Fleet.

About Time I Read It: Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan

Seems like the more I enjoyed reading a book, the longer it takes me to post a review of it. As to why, I’ve always thought it’s because frankly, outstanding books are not easy to write about and deep down, I’m afraid any review I write won’t do the book justice. I’m sure that’s the case with Margaret MacMillan’s Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World. I read this thing months ago and it’s taken me forever to get off my butt and write about it. Well, that wait is over.

Published 15 years ago in 2002, Paris 1919 has been on my list to read for over six years, ever since I learned Amy of the blog Amy Reads happened to be reading it. Those following my blog might also remember Paris 1919 was one of the books, just like The Great Gamble that was featured in the post “Books I’ve Desperately Wanted to Read.” With this being the hundred year anniversary of World War I, from time to time I’d at check-in at my public library to see if a copy happened to be available. One of those times I got lucky and a copy was available for the taking. So, of course I grabbed it. And loved it.

It’s hard to read Paris 1919 and not marvel in both the scope of the Paris Peace Conference but also its lasting consequences. For one, in today’s hyper interconnected, 24 hour news cycle driven, Twitter-crazed world, it’s hard to imagine the world’s leaders setting up shop in some city for six months just to hash out a peace treaty. Also, some of the participating delegations and their respective support staff were, numerically speaking, huge. The British and America groups rented out entire hotels and even brought their own nationals to staff the places. Those attending the Paris Peace Conference, in official or unofficial capacities was like a who’s who of the mid-20th century. Lawrence of Arabia, Ho Chi Minh, Queen Marie of Romania, FDR and Eleanor, Arnold J. Toynbee and John Maynard Keynes all rubbed elbows at the Conference in some degree or another. (Even French novelist Marcel Proust was seen at one of the Conference’s many dinner parties. According to MacMillan he was overheard asking one his fellow dinner guests to regale him in great detail of the Conference’s developments.)

As for the consequences of the Conference, with a few exceptions the blueprint that was drawn in 1919 holds true today. The great land-based empires of western Eurasia were carved up. Russia lost, then won, then lost its Baltic territories. With the collapse of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany, Poland regained its independence and Czechoslovakia became independent. (Although 70 years later it would split in two). A Serb-dominated Yugoslavia would arise from the ashes of WWI only to horribly disintegrate by the century’s end. Lastly, the Ottoman Empire’s remaining Middle Eastern territories were seized by Britain and France. As a result of this land grab British Palestine became the State of Israel. The Kurds were left without a homeland. Iraq is a sectarian mess. The rest of the Middle East, especially the former Ottoman lands have been unstable for years, especially recently. Lastly, over the last 75 years there hasn’t been a group of freedom fighters or separatists who haven’t espoused the Wilsonian term of self-determination at least one in a manifesto or proclamation.

Paris 1919 is easily one of the best pieces of nonfiction I’ve read this year. I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t make my year-end best of list. Consider this book highly recommended.

1946: The Making of the Modern World by Victor Sebestyen

I’m a huge sucker for books about a single year in history. Some of my favorites have been 1959, 1968 and 1973. Last year I read 1945 in addition to not one but two books titled 1913. Over the last year or so, I kept seeing a book at my public library called 1946: The Making of the Modern World by Victor Sebestyen. However, despite my love for these single year books I never felt compelled to grab a copy. Sadly, I’m embarrassed to say I never did so because I disliked the book’s cover. Then one afternoon I came to my senses, put my petty prejudices behind me and helped myself to an available copy. I’m sure glad I did.

1946, while it might not make my year-end Best of List, could very well end up being one of my pleasant surprises of 2017. Made up of short chapters and employing a direct writing style, Sebestyen’s informative book makes for quick, but fascinating reading. Structured chronologically, it skips around the globe, largely ignoring Africa and the Americas and spending the bulk of time discussing seminal events and developments in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Sebestyen’s 1946 chronicles a world in transition. With Nazi German and much of Europe in ruins, the United States and the Soviet Union have emerged as superpowers and their ensuing rivalry would eventually morph into the Cold War. On the other side of the world, Imperial Japan lies defeated, occupied and no longer able to impose its will on East Asia. In Japan’s place is a regional power vacuum with America to a degree the USSR to a slightly lesser degree rushing to fill the void. On a related note, with Japan vanquished Chinese Communists and Nationalists could now be freely fight each other for mastery of the country. Also in Asia, the sun began setting on the British Empire as India/Pakistan moved towards independence and in the Middle East armed Zionists intensified their fight for a modern State of Israel born from the ashes of the Holocaust. Lastly, Britain’s eclipse as a colonial power was part of a larger global trend in anti-colonialism that would in the coming years drive France from Indochina and Holland from Indonesia.

If you end up reading 1946 and would like follow-up books to read let me offer the following suggestions. I would start with Ian Buruma’s Year Zero: A History of 1945. From there I would proceed directly to Keith Lowe’s masterpiece Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II and then to Anne Applebaum’s outstanding book Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956. 

Oh, and one last thing. Don’t be me like me. Try not to judge a book by its cover.

About Time I Read It: The Twilight Warriors by Robert Gandt

I have a feeling when looking back on 2015 I’ll probably consider it as the year I made a strong push to read books from my personal library that I’d been meaning to read for a long, long time. Like dominos falling, one by one I whipped through Spilllover, Sacred Trash, The Myth of the Muslim Tide, Bloodlands and Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. Each one of these books I thoroughly enjoyed. So much so I felt like kicking myself for not reading them sooner.

Well, add one more title to that parade of excellent books. Robert Gandt’s The Twilight Warriors has been on my shelf for five years, ever since it came in the mail as one of my default selections from the History Book Club. However, even after seeing praised online I made no effort to read it. Then one day, perhaps feeling inspired to read yet another ignored book in my personal library I picked it up. Holy cow, it’s good. Once again, I found myself asking why oh why did I wait so long to read this terrific book.

The Twilight Warriors is Gandt’s fast-paced chronicle of the Battle of Okinawa. Fought during the waning months of the Second World War, the Americans saw the conquest of Okinawa as the first step towards the eventual invasion of the Japanese home islands. The Japanese, fully aware of the island’s significance, heavily fortified it in addition to deploying heavy artillery. On top of that, the Japanese planned to unleash its newest weapon, the kamikaze upon the American Navy. Lastly, the pride of the Japanese fleet, the Yamato, the world’s largest battleship, stood by and awaited its final mission.

In the end, both sides shed unfathomable amounts of blood for nothing. The Japanese, despite waves of deadly kamikaze attacks and their dogged resistance on Okinawa were unable to inflict enough casualties to force America to the negotiating table in hopes of securing a truce, as opposed to the unconditional surrender they horribly feared. As for the Americans, once Japan quickly surrender after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was no need to use Okinawa as a jumping off point for an invasion of Japan.

This is a very good book. Not only is it fast-paced, but it’s also well-written. From what I can tell, Gandt did a heck of a good job researching The Twilight Warriors. Perhaps above all, I really liked how the story is told mainly from the perspective of those men who did the fighting. Therefore, it’s for these reasons I have no problem whatsoever recommended this superb book.

About Time I Read It: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford

If you’re like me, there’s nothing like finally reading a book that for years you’ve been wanting to read. And if you’re like me, the only thing better than that is when you finally do read it, it’s even better than you had hoped. That, my friends is how I felt when I finally got around to reading Jack Weatherford’s Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.

I’ve been wanting to read Weatherford’s book for over decade, ever since it was published back in 2004. Sadly, I never got around to doing so, even after I received a copy as a Christmas present several years ago. Even with this prized book in my possession I’m embarrassed to say it just sat on my desk gathering dust. But with 2015 shaping up to be the year I tackle the many ignored and unread books of my personal library perhaps it’s no surprise I finally picked up Weatherford’s book and read it.

As the book’s title hints, this isn’t just the story of Genghis Khan. Yes, his incredible rise from impoverished Mongol horseman to emperor of Eurasia is all here. But Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World is much more than that. If any leader could be called an enlightened despot than Weatherford’s Genghis Khan would be him. Under his rule religious toleration abounded, ethnic communities and local customs were respected and international trade flourished. His empire was also the first to promote such modern concepts like universal literacy, paper money and diplomatic immunity for ambassadors and envoys. With an empire stretching two continents and served by a meritocracy-based civil service, state-run postal service and rule of law (not to mention an aversion to torture as a tool for justice and means of state control) Genghis Khan’s kingdom was not only impressive but by today’s standards much a head of its time.

Some have criticized Weatherford for painting too rosy of picture of Genghis and his empire. Others have questioned his book’s historical accuracy. Frankly, I don’t care. It’s well-written and fun to read. Much like Thomas Cahill did with his books How the Irish Saved Civilization and Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea:Why the Greeks Matter Weatherford has the ability to make  history enjoyable and fascinating. Therefore, I highly recommend Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.