Michael Prawdin was the pseudonym of Michael Charol (20 January 1894 – 23 December 1970),[ Michael Prawdin - Munzinger Biographie] a Russian-German historical writer.
Born in present-day Ukraine, Charol came to Germany 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,[Erhard Schutz, in Sabina Becker, Helmuth Kiesel & Robert Krause, Literarische Moderne: Begriff und Phänomen, p. 376] and wrote in German. In 1934, he made a plea for the 'factual novel'.['Der Tatsachenroman', Die Literatur 36 (1933/34). pp. 256-9]
Prawdin made himself an international reputation with two books on Genghis Khan. The Nazi bureaucrat Heinrich Himmler 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 to claim inspiration from Genghis Khan.[
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Reception
Reception seem to have varied with time.
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In 1942, L. Carrington Goodrich reviewed the 1940 translation of The Mongol Empire. He started: , continued with , and disagrees about standard work for serious student: that . 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".
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In his Introduction to a 2006 reprint of The Mongol Empire Gérard Chaliand said Michael Prawdin tells us a story "with great literary talent."
[Chaliand, "Introduction," The Mongol Empire (2006) p. xiii].
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To 2017 edition of The Mongol Empire : its rise and legacy, Maurice Collis said
[Provided by publisher, "Summary," The Mongol Empire (2017) [3], WorldCat, Routledge, London, 2017, , ].
Works
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Eine Welt zerbricht: Ein Tatsachenroman, 1933. Translated by Kenneth Kirkness as Double Eagle, London: Selwyn & Blount, 1934.
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Tschingis-Chan, der Sturm aus Asien, 1934, Stuttgart, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt.
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Tschingis-Chan und sein Erbe, 1935. Translated by Eden Paul and Cedar Paul as The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy, 1937.
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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.
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Russland, Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1951.
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Netschajew--von Moskau verschwiegen, 1961. Translated as The Unmentionable Nechaev: A Key to Bolshevism. London: Allen and Unwin, 1961.
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Marie de Rohan, duchesse de Chevreuse, London: Allen & Unwin, 1971.
