A cartoon, probably from The New Yorker, is forever etched on my memory. It shows two Mongol horsemen, galloping side-by-side, looking appropriately ferocious. One, however, has a passenger, which perplexes the other. Said passenger is a bearded and bespectacled little guy vaguely resembling Sigmund Freud. The caption reads: “He’s my therapist.”
That’s lovingly absurd: the Mongol stereotype suggests marauding plunderers, not softies in thrall to therapists. But as Marie Favereau demonstrates in this fascinating book, that stereotype is flawed. The Mongols were a sophisticated people with an impressive talent for government and a sensitive relationship with the natural world. They were tax collectors more than tormenters. Although they didn’t employ therapists, they did possess a keen understanding of human psychology.
The word “horde” suggests
