Tamerlane

Conqueror of the Earth

De: Harold Lamb

Narrado por: Charlton Griffin

Sweeping out of Central Asia in the last half of the 14th century came the Tatar armies of Timur, known as Tamerlane in the West, and one of history's supremely gifted military leaders.

With consummate skill, Tamerlane cobbled together a kingdom from the tattered leftovers of various Mongol fiefdoms. He then enlarged that fiefdom into a large and menacing power in the center of Asia. But when the mighty Mongolian empire decided to crush out this upstart rival, it was too late.

Tamerlane not only defeats the Mongols, but goes on to vanquish the Persians, the Indians and the mighty Ottoman Turks in successive wars. It was one of the most astounding developments imaginable, doubly so because of its swiftness and decisiveness. And at the time of his death in 1405, Tamerlane was on his way to invade and subdue China with an army of 200,000.

Ruling from his fabulous capital of Samarkand, he was a fascinating, controversial, and contradictory tyrant. He was both a destroyer and a builder, a barbarian and a cultured gentleman. He was ostensibly Muslim, but was the scourge of Muslim states, who vilify him to this day. The Tatar empire at his death approached the dimensions of the earlier Khans of Mongolia, yet it melted away immediately after his passing.

In yet another superb historical work, Harold Lamb brings the mighty Tatar leader to vivid life and shows how this ruthless commander used his superior intellect and magnetic leadership to overcome one obstacle after another. Tamerlane was truly one of the most remarkable personalities ever to emerge from the steppes of Central Asia.

©2007 Audio Connoisseur (P)2007 Audio Connoisseur

Narrator was a bit dry, slightly monotone.

I preferred the end bits where Lamb explains his sources, would reccomend for hardcore historophiles, or students interested in central Asian history and or anthropology.

History or historical novel?

This book is a cross between a history and a historical novel and to my mind doesn't fully succeed as either. Tamerlane is a fascinating figure, however, and there seems to be a shortage of modern treatments of his life and times (this one is from 1955).

Exploring an ignored time and region in history

Harold Lamb is a master who brings characters in history to life. While I preferred "Hannibal: One Man Against Rome", I found this to be an excellent book. History too often seems to pretend that central Asia doesn't exist and that the Romans were the only empire builders worth remembering. I knew nothing of the events and people described in this book before I listened to this book, and now wish to learn more.

Some people complain about the narration, although I'm not sure what they didn't like. Charlton Griffin does an excellent job and adds a dramatic flair to the reading that some seem to dislike. (What would they prefer, a dry recitation?)

My only complaint is that I still feel like I know too little. I'm so ignorant of the region and its history, that I struggled to tie the story to the modern world. I don't know if I could find Samarkand on a map, and didn't recognize half the place names he mentioned, even when he placed them "near modern wherever". But that is only a complaint of the scope of my ignorance of the region and its history, and not of the book itself.

great tale of a somewhat unknown figure

It was a great history of a great man who has been forgotten by history.

Grandiose and rambling

I was hoping for a detailed description of Tamerlane. This wasn’t that. It felt like the author and or the narrator were trying out for Shakespeare in the park. Various sound effects like the narrators voice sounding echoing when it was an important point. Followed by intermittent sound effects which were distracting.
At various points it went from Tamerlane grandson to some battle against suleimon. I listened to a book on ghengis khan and that author stated Tamerlane was the only conqueror who could even be in the discussion of Tamerlane. Maybe that’s true but this book won’t help you understand that.

Very entertaining, loved it

What did you love best about Tamerlane?

The narrator is doing a great job, good storytelling voice and pace. Luckily no sound effects as in other similar semi-fictious books. This is not your usual history book-type thing, going meticulously forward year by year but rather a smooth flowing story with lots of detail, vivid and colorful descriptions.

What did you like best about this story?

Its highly entertaining, lots of action and easy to follow plot. I am not sure about how much is fiction or facts, but it didn't bother me.

What about Charlton Griffin’s performance did you like?

Great voice, good speed. And good pronunciation of some very strange names, titles and places.

Very interesting

I really enjoyed learning about Tamerlane reading was wonderful
Great history lesson
Very informative would recommend

Good read

Starts off a b bit slow, but a good read overall 🙂. Would recommend to interested history readers

Fun but dated

There’s some good content, some content that’s been revised since this work was originally written, some passé terminology, and a lot of terrible things are glossed over. That said, it’s a fun listen.

Poorly Written and Hard to Follow

Author skips important details and tells story I almost out of order. Timur some how goes from broke son of a chieftain to being the Khans right hand man to outlaw within 10 minutes with little explanation,