Craughwell Thomas J. The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in History: How Genghis Khan's Mongols Almost Conquered the World

Fair Winds Press, 2010. — 272 p.Emerging out of the vast steppe grasslands of Central Asia in the early 1200s, the Mongols, under their ferocious leader, Genghis Khan, quickly carved out an empire that by the late thirteenth century covered almost one-sixth of the Earth’s landmass - from Eastern Europe to the eastern shore of Asia - and encompassed 110 million people. Far larger than the much more famous domains of Alexander the Great and ancient Rome, it has since been surpassed in overall size and reach only by the British Empire.The Rise and Fall of the Second Largest Empire in the World recounts the spectacularly rapid expansion and dramatic decline of the Mongol realm, while examining its real, widespread, and enduring influence on countless communities from the Danube River to the Pacific Ocean.Thomas J. Craughwell has written more than 20 books on religion, history, and popular culture, including Saints Behaving Badly, Stealing Lincoln's Body, and How the Barbarian Invasions Shaped the Modern World. He writes a monthly column about patron saints for Catholic diocesan newspapers, and he has written about saints for The Wall Street Journal, The American Spectator, Columbia, St. Anthony Messenger, Catholic Digest, and many other publications. Tom has also appeared as a guest on EWTN, CNN, FOX, and the History Channel.