On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads
By Tim Cope
4/5
()
Unavailable in your country
Unavailable in your country
About this ebook
From horse-riding novice to travelling three years and 10,000 kilometres on horseback, accompanied by his dog Tigon, Tim learnt to fend off wolves and would-be horse-thieves, and grapple with the extremes of the steppe as he crossed sub-zero plateaux, the scorching deserts of Kazakhstan and the high-mountain passes of the Carpathians. Along the way, he was taken in by people who taught him the traditional ways and told him their recent history: Stalin's push for industrialisation brought calamity to the steepe and forced collectivism that in Kazakhstan alone led to the loss of several million livestock and the starvation of more than a million nomads. Today Cope bears witness to how the traditional ways hang precariously in the balance in the post-Soviet world.
Tim Cope
Born in 1978, Tim Cope, F.R.G.S., is an award-winning adventurer, author and film-maker with a special interest in the traditional cultures of Central Asia and Russia. He has studied as a wilderness guide in the Finnish and Russian subarctic, ridden a bicycle across Russia to China, and rowed a boat along the Yenisey River through Siberia to the Arctic Ocean. Tim's most renowned journey was a three year, 6,000-mile journey by horse from Mongolia to Hungary on the trail of Genghis Khan – a quest to understand the horseback nomads of the great Eurasian steppe. Tim is the author of Off the Rails: Moscow to Beijing on Recumbent Bikes (Penguin Books 2003), and On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Lands of the Nomads (Bloomsbury Worldwide, to be released September 2013). He is also the creator of several documentary films, including the award winning series “The Trail of Genghis Khan,” (commissioned by ABC Australia and ZDF/Arte in Europe). Tim lives in Victoria, Australia, and annually guides trekking journeys to remote western Mongolia for World Expeditions. www.timcopejourneys.com
Read more from Tim Cope
On the Trail of Genghis Khan: An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Off The Rails: 10,000 km by Bicycle across Russia, Siberia and Mongolia to China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to On the Trail of Genghis Khan
Related ebooks
A Highly Unlikely Bicycle Tourist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNamibia on Wheels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thieves, Liars and Mountaineers: On the 8,000m peak circus in Pakistan: Footsteps on the Mountain Diaries Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Hitch-Biker's Guide Through Africa: Cairo to Cape Town on a Folding Bike Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCasting Off: How a City Girl Found Happiness on the High Seas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Land of the Tian Shan Mountains Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEverest: Alone at the Summit: The first British ascent without oxygen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5True Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia Volume 2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rickshaws, Rajas and Roti: An India Travel Guide and Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFour Corners: A Journey into the Heart of Papua New Guinea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Living Planet: The Web of Life on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tour de Oz: The extraordinary story of the first bicycle race around Australia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Slow Road to Tehran: A Revelatory Bike Ride through Europe and the Middle East Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAround the World in 80 Trains: A 45,000-Mile Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girt Nation: The Unauthorised History of Australia Volume 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Little History of Dublin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCold: Extreme Adventures at the Lowest Temperatures on Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great Expeditions: 50 Journeys that changed our world Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Joys of Travel: And Stories That Illuminate Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Solo Bicycle Journeys Across Six Continents, The Lure of the Next Bend Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRun Wild Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My Olympic Life: A Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Dimdim in Paradise: Thirty Six Years in Papua New Guinea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHonouring High Places: The Mountain Life of Junko Tabei Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalking Coast To Coast: Adventures Along Wainwright's Trail Across Northern England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGirt: The Unauthorised History of Australia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kings Cross: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shards of Ice: Antarctica - Death Survival Grief Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Asian History For You
The Last Yakuza: life and death in the Japanese underworld Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two Buddhas Seated Side by Side: A Guide to the Lotus Sūtra Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Ieyasu Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShinto the Kami Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bushido: The Samurai Code of Japan: With an Extensive Introduction and Notes by Alexander Bennett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Caste (Oprah's Book Club): by Isabel Wilkerson - The Origins of Our Discontents - A Comprehensive Summary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-1962 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'brainwashing' in China Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cultural Revolution: A People's History, 1962—1976 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Myths & Legends of Japan: Study of Japanese Folklore (Illustrated Edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: The Forgotten Asian Auschwitz Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mao Tse-Tung On Guerrilla Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vory: Russia's Super Mafia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 3]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wise Thoughts for Every Day: On God, Love, the Human Spirit, and Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago: The Authorized Abridgement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Voices from Chernobyl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Capitalist Manifesto Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for On the Trail of Genghis Khan
34 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A wonderful read. While the story teller often seemed to hid or mask his true thoughts and motives from the reader it was never the less a fact filled adventure that had me learning of, and longing for such an adventure, and such a past and place as he paints in this book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Epic journey over the breadth of Asia, in the horse tracks of Genghis Khan.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Well written and interesting story of not only the journey but also of the history of nomad life.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is many things. The document of an unquenchable wanderlust. An exercise in ethnography. A bearing of witness to a fading way of life. Mostly though, it's really about the author dealing with his emotional drives and finding a way to turn them into a vocation; not everyone can become a professional adventurer, as Cope's current status as a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society attests to.While I found the portions dealing with the start of the journey (Mongolia) and the end (Hungary) to be the most interesting (did I mention I'm in part of Hungarian descent?) the biggest chunk of Cope's journey was his time spent looking at the current status of the nomad peoples of the former Soviet Union after being hammered by Stalinism; the portion dealing with the Tartars of Crimea being especially relevant.With all these positives why do I not give this book a little higher rating? A big part of the reason is me, in that at the current moment I was wasn't in the mood for a picaresque tale of wandering but pressed on to get the book done. This also meant that I wasn't as patient as I should be with the author's personal journey of insight. However, I would certainly pay notice to any future work by Cope, and would now like to see the companion documentary.