Street John C. (ed.) The Secret history of the Mongols: a Mongolian epic chronicle of the thirteenth century

Translation by Igor de Rachewiltz. — Madison: University of Wisconsin, 2015. — xxiv, 268 p.; maps. — (Books and Monographs. Book 4).The pages below represent a shortened version of the three volumes — totaling over 1700 pages — of Igor de Rachewiltz’s similarly-titled work published by Brill in 2004 and 2013. The first two of these volumes provides a full English translation of the 13th century Middle Mongolian text known as the Secret History of the Mongols, with lengthy introduction explaining the nature and origin of that text (with much background information) plus detailed commentary on details in this new translation. After these come seven appendixes, full bibliography, and indexes of names, subjects, grammar and lexis. The volumes include also various maps and illustrations, and a table showing the genealogy of the man named Temü†in who became Činggis Qan – better known in the west as Genghis Khan. Volume 3 consists of addenda and corrigenda to the earlier two, correcting a number of minor errors and omissions discovered after publication, and adding information provided by newly published works or other scholars. Publishing such a massive work must, of course, have been very expensive, and Brill can scarcely be blamed for passing such expense on to purchasers. But the high price for all three books makes it likely that most copies will remain in libraries or be owned by specialists or one sort or another. The de Rachewiltz translation deserves a much broader audience, for unlike earlier attempts in English, it is pleasant and easy to read while remaining close to the spirit of the original.