"Spawning an empire ranging from Persia to China, Genghis Khan united a nomadic warrior culture that had lived with their agrarian neighbors through controlled and limited extortion. It was a society whose leaders waged successful war and increased the tribe's prosperity. But the Mongols also understood it would serve their purposes to maintain commerce and agriculture, and to cultivate the arts in order that the luxuries they coveted would be all the more readily available. It was to this end that, after the first decades of destruction and rampage, the Mongols' policy changed to one of cooption and governance. The Mongols became effective cultural breakers as they forced, urged, bribed, and coerced the movement of artists and artisans, scientists, and scholars around their empire." "A narrative history, thematic essays, biographical portraits of key figures, and primary documents provide a full picture of this complex man and time. Five maps, an annotated timeline, a glossary, an annotated bibliography, and several illustrations round out this resource."--BOOK JACKET.