Modern Mongolia

Reclaiming Genghis Khan

Edited by Paula L W Sabloff

Book cover: Modern Mongolia

Extent: 148 pages

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Museum

Subjects: Asian/Pacific Studies & Religions, Social Sciences 

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(October 2001)

ISBN: 9780924171918

8.46 x 10.98 inches

Price: $19.95

Out of stock

Readers of all ages seeking an accessible and picturesque presentation of Mongolian history and society will find Modern Mongolia a fascinating introduction.


Mongolia, a country that evokes romantic curiosity on the part of American readers, has emerged from its former Soviet cocoon. It has achieved independence, democracy, and a twenty-first-century market economy. This book provides factual information about Mongolia and new ways of looking at a historical figure, Genghis Khan, whose ideals of nationhood and democratic principles are in practice now. Modern Mongolia is unique in providing multiple perspectives–Mongolian and American, scholarly and less formal–about the country’s developments in a readable style, richly illustrated with 120 full-color contemporary and archival photographs, both scenic and artifactual. The first chapter provides an overview of Mongolian geography and history to the twentieth century and the author’s personal experience as a teenager during the 1989-90 democratic revolution. Chapter 2, by a Mongolian historian, recounts the exciting changes from Manchu Dynasty feudal society and autonomous theocracy to Communist nationhood and, finally, full independence as a democratic nation. The third chapter, by a cultural historian, describes the effects of historical changes on the daily life of Mongolian nomads-their clothing, family dwellings (gers), and furnishings. Chapter 4, by an American political anthropologist, shows the connection between modern Mongolians’ devotion to democracy and the political ideas of Genghis Khan. Readers of all ages seeking an accessible and picturesque presentation of Mongolian history and society will find Modern Mongolia a fascinating introduction.

  • Edited by Paula L W Sabloff