Michael Prawdin was the pseudonym of Michael Charol (20 January 1894 – 23 December 1970), a Russian-German historical writer. Born in present-day

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, Charol came to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

after the Russian Revolution.Richard Breitman, 'Hitler and Genghis Khan', '' Journal of Contemporary History'', Vol. 25, No. 2/3 (May-June 1990), pp. 337–351; cf. Breitman, ''The Architect of Genocide: Himmler and the Final Solution'', Bodley Head, 1991, p. 39 He studied in Germany, and wrote in German. In 1934, he made a plea for the 'factual novel'. Prawdin made himself an international reputation with two books on Genghis Khan. The Nazi bureaucrat

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

sufficiently admired the books that he ordered the publication of a one-volume edition in 1938, a copy of which was given to every SS leader; the book appears to have encouraged

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

to claim inspiration from Genghis Khan.

Reception

Gerard Chaliand in his Introduction to a 2006 reprint of ''The Mongol Empire'' said Michael Prawdin tells us a story "with great literary talent." L. Carrington Goodrich reviewed the 1940 translation of ''The Mongol Empire''. He said, "this is a readable book" but added that "the author has made numerous errors, skims lightly over certain important developments, gives only fragments of quotations without credit to translator..., fails to utilize fully his own sources which are far from complete, and makes assumptions which hard indeed to follow. This is slick writing, not sober history". He continued that "part of Prawdin’s trouble is carelessness", and that "some of his suppressions or condensations of material seem surprising because the facts are well known and of general interest".

Works

* ''Eine Welt zerbricht: Ein Tatsachenroman'', 1933. Translated by Kenneth Kirkness as ''Double Eagle'', London: Selwyn & Blount, 1934. * ''Tschingis-Chan, der Sturm aus Asien'', 1934, Stuttgart, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. * ''Tschingis-Chan und sein Erbe'', 1935. Translated by Eden and Cedar Paul as
The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy
', 1937. * ''Johanna die Wahnsinnige, Habsburgs Weg zum Weltreich'', 1937. Translated by Eden and Cedar Paul as ''The Mad Queen of Spain'', London: G. Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1938. * ''Russland'', Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1951. * ''Netschajew--von Moskau verschwiegen'', 1961. Translated as ''The Unmentionable Nechaev: A Key to Bolshevism''. London: Allen and Unwin, 1961. * ''Marie de Rohan, duchesse de Chevreuse'', London: Allen & Unwin, 1971.

References

External links

* 1894 births 1970 deaths Ukrainian SSR emigrants to Germany German male non-fiction writers 20th-century German historians {{Germany-historian-stub