Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford

For the outside reading and blogging, I am reading Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford. This is book is a historical biography of Genghis Khan with some Mongolian history thrown in. I got this book for Christmas and I have been wanting to read it but haven't gotten a chance. I also figured if I make myself read it for school it will be required and I will have a better incentive to start it. I read the introduction already and I think I'm really going to like it. Ever since we studied the Mongolian Steppe Empires in AP World History, I have found this time period in history and this ethnic group fascinating. It is an amazing accomplishment for a small band of steppe people to unite under one of histories' greatest charismatic and innovative leaders (Genghis Khan) and then form a strong, complex society with unheard of principles like merit based system and no privileges for aristocrats, and then on top off all that conquer much of the known world and become the carriers of culture, innovation and trade goods. This book is the story of "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 age" and that's why I'm reading it.