This astonishing book, which is unquestionably the best and most authoritative account of one of the most important events in the world's history, namely the sudden rise and expansion of the Mongol power in the thirteenth century, is republished here in an updated edition, with a new introduction and bibliography. This work, considered also to be one of the masterpieces of Persian prose literature, is concerned with the career of Genghis Khan, who founded the Mongol Empire (1206-27), and also with the reigns of his three successors. Juvaini, the narrator, was in the service of the Mongol governors of northern Persia and knew personally many of the chief actors in the dramatic story he told. In writing this he was able to draw on the recollections of his father and grandfather who had also been involved with the Mongol Empire. He was also intimately connected with one of the most interesting episodes in the story, the destruction of the headquarters of the assassins at Alamut.
