interesting expose ..

Excellent ,,a little repetitive in parts ..

Presenter could be a bit more unrushed..

overal conclusion iffy..on wolf impact ?

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I bought this as bedtime reading so interesting

I really enjoyed this course. It's about how the Mongol empire shaped the world in the early medieval period. I never knew anything about this history and absolutely loved learning about it. Fascinating, engaging and entertaining narration kept me coming back for more.

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amazing

Really enjoyable throughout. Made my commute so much more enjoyable. The pace was excellent and engaging at all times.

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Superb work!

I have just read three audiobooks on aspects of theMongols and this course is the best, in that it deals with the material covered by the other three in a manner that makes me regret having wasted time on the others.
Uniquely of the four productions, we get the historical background into which the Mongols precipitated themselves and their common culture and society so that we understand that they didn’t just come from nowhere.
The lecturer is balanced in his evaluations of Mongol achievements , citing other expert opinions , and his mmaterial is detailed, comprehensive and crisplydelivered.
It is quite clear that the lecturer loves his subject and gives an up-to-date account of present-day Mongolia that inspires me to visit and see. Superb work!

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2 people found this helpful

Pros and Khan's

I really enjoyed this course. The lecturer was informed and interesting, with good prose and emotion in his voice.

The content of the course was accessible and easy to understand.

The background to the Empires and the Mongol legacy was key to understanding how they became so effective, innovative, intelligent, strong and devastating.

If a little one sided it is still informative. A truly crucial piece of history that helps to contextualise how these great and terrifying people influenced how we love today.

It is clearly sad to see why the Uighars and other minorities in China are so persecuted.

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Admiring prof merrily skips over genocide

I would not fault a historian for falling in love with his subject. It takes a lot of time and dedication to specialize in a field, so it is no wonder that people pick the niche they are most interested in. However, I feel that professor Benjamin has crossed the line into breathless admiration. That does not make a good historian.

The Mongols were extremely impactful in history, and extremely skilled fighters and strategists. But they also slaughtered millions, and raped wherever they went. They were viciously cruel. Benjamin mentions the latter once in a while -often in an admiring 'look at how powerful they were' kind of way-, but also describes the first in such glowing terms that all the horror seems like a small afterthought. An example to illustrate this (quote): "Yes, the Mongols brought a lot of destruction, BUT they also paved the way for travellers such as Marco Polo, enabling new exchanges". That's like saying Hitler was terrible, but he did build a great highway system in Germany. The balance is just off.

I also found the professor to be profoundly sexist. Apart from constantly hyping the masculine culture and describing rape as something that just happens, 75% of the chapter about Mongol women is about men. As in: the first 50% of the lecture is used to describe militarily progress and architecture. After that it is almost exclusively framed in terms of which queens were important in succession issues. Quotes such as: 'The mongols didn't have the luxury to establish a patriarchy' are uttered unironically. Another one: When speaking about to Khan's genetic legacy, he audibly chuckles and says he was 'certainly sexually active'. He follows up with a quote about how the Khan loved to hold the daughters and wives of his enemies. That was certainly true, but it was also rape. To bring this quote while audibly laughing about it, and presenting it as a funny joke, is extremely distasteful.

This could be somewhat overlooked if the lectures themselves were deeply engaging, but they are not, either. Many seem like just a list of names and battles rattled off in a robotic voice. It was hard to stay engaged, even though the topic itself interests me very much. All in all I wish Benjamin had been more objective, used more neutral language, and had the sense to present his subject from a larger distance. You would not give a course about Nazi Germany by spending most of the lectures breathlessly talking about their military victories. I feel like I learned less about the Mongols than I anticipated when I got this audiobook. If you, on the other hand, are extremely interested in the military context, I doubt this course would bring you many new insights either. While he speaks about battles a lot, it is all very shallow. Because there were so many battles, it just becomes a list. I think it would have been more useful if he had focussed on one or two representative battles in particular, and described those in much more detail. In the end, I would not recommend this course, no matter from which viewpoint your interests come.

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detailed narrative but extremely biased

Excellent account of Mongol imperial history, delivered with great passion. Benjamin is clearly a lover and expert of the material but this comes through on occasion in a negative light. Analysis of events is often tilted to favour Mongols and hence ignores other viewpoints, failing to give a balanced analysis. It sometimes feels as though Benjamin is trying to sell me a product.

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1 person found this helpful

Hum

I am one of the educationally deprived - having been shoved into a Comprehensive school of 2500 thugs - that is not to say I was a wilting flower - simply that my primary education was at a CofE shoebox with only 100 children and I knew all their names and enjoyed their company.

Now I am retired I want to understand all those things that fascinated me throughout my adult life - no better way for me fo do this than listening to the great courses lectures.

So why the low ratings ?

American accents make me cringe - especially that creepy Californian twang - but this is an Australian lecturer I hear you cry - I had to slow him down in order to make him a more acceptable Australian - I think he has spent to long in the good 'ol yippee ky Trumpland.

But what he has to say is grippimg

Good Luck

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