|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Bauer (author of the four-volume The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child) guides readers on a fast-paced yet thorough tour of the ancient worlds of Sumer, Egypt, India, China, Greece, Mesopotamia and Rome. Drawing on epics, legal texts, private letters and court histories, she introduces individuals who lived through the famines, plagues, floods, wars and empire building of the ancient world: the marvelous array of characters includes Gilgamesh, Sumer's first epic hero; Yü, the founder of the Xia dynasty in China; and Tiglath-Pileser III, who restored the Assyrian empire's fortunes. Because Bauer covers so much time and territory, she focuses on the Western cultures with which she seems most comfortable; the chapters on Asia and India are the least developed. In addition, some of her assertions—for instance, that the biblical book of Joshua is the clearest guide we possess to the establishment of an Israelite kingdom in Canaan—contradict general scholarly opinion or are simply wrong. However, Bauer's elegant prose and her command of much of the material makes this a wonderful starting point for the study of the ancient world. 80 maps. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Bauer's annals, which span the millennia between the traces of Sumer and the Roman emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity in 312 CE, are an attractive introduction to a subject vast in time and geography. She writes briskly and interpretively, and is attuned throughout to the challenge of rulers: appearing to the ruled as legitimate holders of power. This sensibility makes her narratives acutely interesting, as Bauer pierces the biases inherent in most ancient sources to discern the sincerity or the cynicism with which power seekers pursued their goals. Above, approval of the divine was invaluable; on Earth, a loyal army was indispensable. Acquiring both enabled lawgivers to make their writ stick, and Bauer's chronicles exhibit the interaction of priestly, military, and legal powers as empires and dynasties wax and wane. This endows continuity to her accounts of polities as disparate as the Harappan civilization of the Indus River or the states that emerged from misty prehistory along the Yellow and Yangtze rivers to form China. Nonacademic and sometimes colloquial in composition, Bauer's survey will spark the imagination. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can a history book really be exciting?,
By
This review is from: History Of The Ancient World (Hardcover)
The answer is yes, for this book anyway. For people who know me, this book seemed an unlikely choice. History books can feel dry and heavy. Believe it or not, this was not only easy to read, it was hard to put down! I read it in the summer, and while people were reading romance paperbacks on the beach, they may have been perplexed to see me visibly emote at the humongous history book I was reading. Sometimes my mind would wander off, filled with adventures and inspiration. It was a fun read!Susan Wise Bauer is a perfect example of someone who shines because they are doing what they love most, her passion for detail and clear sober voice make the book so visually linear that you feel you're watching the whole world unveil before you. This book will seduce anyone into finding out about the most interesting stories the planet has ever known. Well written and surprisingly close to my heart, this is a great book for absolutely anyone.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great base from which to delve deeper,
By
This review is from: History Of The Ancient World (Hardcover)
As someone who loves to read history books from specific events to people, survey books like this one usually only get a quick read through. However, the Classical era is something I'm not very learned in and having picked up this book and read it from front to back I definitely gained a greater perspective on many cultures often overlooked from the era. It definitely seems to be suited for a high school audience with broad overviews of the various empires until Constantine. It examines the beginning empire in the east to the foundations of Rome and the various conflicts that erupt. Those looking for more detailed overviews of specific empires would be better suited to look for books relating to them because while the book provides a comprehensive survey of the Classical period, it never truly goes into detail for many pivotal events. However, since the scope of the book was to provide a survey, that can hardly be used to fault the book so that's why I strongly recommend this book to those that are new to Classics. Susan Bauer's source list is quite extensive and I have myself tapped many of her sources to gain further understanding of specific details that I needed further elaboration on. Overall it was good, leisurely read and I would look into it again though mostly for the sources.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This history book reads like a story,
By
This review is from: History Of The Ancient World (Hardcover)
Not only does Bauer organize the book well, she has an interesting narrative voice which i have laughed at at times
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Ancient > Early Civilization
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > History > Ancient
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
