Heaven's Favorite - Book Two Dominion: Dawn of the Mongol Empire Author: Tom Shanley File Size: 815 KB ISBN: 978-0-615-25928-4 Published Date: October 2008

With the steppe finally unified under his rule, the story continues in the sequel, Book Two of Heaven’s Favorite, Dominion: Dawn of the Mongol Empire, as Temujin, now known as Chinggis Khan, turns his attention to the world outside.

Over the past eight hundred years, our collective memory of Chinggis Khan has been reduced to a grotesque caricature of an archetypical despot. Like his contemporaries in those harsh times, he proved himself capable of great cruelty. Unlike many, however, he was also capable of extraordinary good, outlawing the kidnapping of women, declaring all children legitimate, mandating freedom of religion, and ultimately coming to believe that free trade was the key to peace. In this, the sequel to Ascent: The Rise of Chinggis Khan and the conclusion of Heaven’s Favorite, his story continues.

Balance. Balance was good and the Jurchen who ruled northern China did their part to maintain the status quo. Whenever it appeared that the steppe barbarians might reach accord with each other, or if one appeared poised to dominate the others, the Jurchen would step in. Wielding the promise of great wealth on the one hand and the threat represented by the might of their armies on the other, they would use their influence to ensure that the barbarian tribes remained at each other’s throats. But now, with Temujin’s consolidation of power on the steppe, everything had changed. The status quo, the balance, had been replaced by a new reality, one that was problematic not only for the powerful Jurchen who ruled northern China, but for Temujin, as well. Without an outside enemy at whom he could direct the energies of his young men, his emerging empire would self-destruct. He knew this was so, and if they had not realized it already, so would the Jurchen before too long. Our story resumes in 1206 A.D. with Temujin’s fledgling empire surrounded by potential enemies any of which is powerful enough to wipe him out.

The product of three years of exhaustive research, Heaven’s Favorite paints a vivid portrait of the Asia of eight hundred years ago in which Temujin’s story unfolds. In pursuit of the true story behind this saga, the author traveled over forty-five hundred kilometers throughout Mongolia in the company of Mongol scholars from Chinggis Khan University and visited China a number of times.

A companion website can be found at www.heavensfavorite.com.