About the Author

Frank McLynn is a highly regarded historian and the author of more than twenty critically acclaimed biographies, including Marcus Aurelius and Richard & John. A graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, and London University, where he obtained his doctorate, he lives and writes in England.

Reviews

Booklist, July 2015 "This ambitious and massive effort offers some credible insights into the qualities of Genghis while providing an excellent chronicle of his military campaigns and conquests. Particularly interesting is McLynn's description of thirteenth-century Mongolia, with its incredibly complicated web of tribes, clans, and subclans...This is an informative and admirable effort that is ideal for general readers." Kirkus Reviews starred review, 5/15/15 "A sanguinary and thorough account of 'the greatest conqueror the world has ever known.' McLynn knows the terrain and the times so well that he writes about 12th- and 13th-century history and culture as if it were yesterday. Throughout this intricately detailed text, the author pauses continually to explain relevant devices, personalities, political situations, and geography--all of this gives readers a chance to truly understand...McLynn recognizes that the historical sources must be constantly questioned and analyzed, as victors tend to inflate their victories and losers, to minimize and blame...Thoroughly researched, grim, grisly, and sometimes even grudgingly admiring." Publishers Weekly, 5/18/15 "Sweepingly ambitious and persistently intriguing." The Spectator (UK), 6/27/15 "[Khan's] was an extraordinary, epic story and Frank McLynn does it full justice in a vivid, page-turning biography." Sunday Times (UK), 6/21/15 "A formidable study of the world's greatest conqueror. With this compelling history of a brilliant, complex leader and ruthless master of warfare, McLynn has done his man proud." Sunday Times (UK), "Must Reads," 6/28/15 "A formidable study of the ruthless Mongolian nomad who carved out an empire." The Times (UK), 6/27/15 "McLynn has carefully synthesized the work of hundreds of scholars to create a sensitive and immensely detailed portrait of an extraordinary leader." Shelf Awareness for Readers, 7/31/15 "A staggeringly ambitious biography of history's greatest conqueror...Genghis Khan is fascinating enough to appeal to any history fan." Maclean's, 7/24/15 "McLynn's bio of the legendary, brutal conqueror reveals the Mongol's mantras." My Big Honkin Blog, 7/29/15 "The hundred pages of endnotes clearly illustrates the efforts that McLynn put forth in penning Genghis Khan." Examiner.com, 8/3/15 "Brings us face to face with this complex man who shaped the course of history." InfoDad blog, 8/6/15 "Such a man requires the most substantial possible biography, and McLynn gives him one that resoundingly demonstrates how intricately fascinating history can be...Sumptuous, erudite and stylish, careful to rely on often-contradictory primary sources when any such exist from so remote an era, McLynn's Genghis Khan is a sweeping 650-page trek through times and peoples whose very names sound like the stuff of legend...A book that...makes history come alive." Literary Review, August 2015 "[An] impressive new biography...[A] deeply researched and finely honed portrait...A biography of extraordinary synthesis and historical vision." South China Morning Post, 9/19/15 "McLynn takes an epic story and distills it into a book that will fill readers with awe." Internet Review of Books, 8/18/15 "This complicated book is Frank McLynn's twenty-fourth history, and includes an extensive bibliography, and voluminous notes...If you sink your teeth into it, you won't be disappointed." Military Heritage, November 2015 "This new biography covers the life of this infamous and important man who would today be seen as a genocidal maniac. Time has softened the results of his actions, but the author brings the man vividly to life."