World Famous Comics: The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
By: Susan Wise Bauer Publisher: W. W. Norton Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: W. W. Norton Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 800 Publication Date: March 26, 2007
Product Description: A lively and engaging narrative history showing the common threads in the cultures that gave birth to our own.
This is the first volume in a bold new series that tells the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country. Susan Wise Bauer provides both sweeping scope and vivid attention to the individual lives that give flesh to abstract assertions about human history.
Dozens of maps provide a clear geography of great events, while timelines give the reader an ongoing sense of the passage of years and cultural interconnection. This narrative history employs the methods of "history from beneath"—literature, epic traditions, private letters and accounts—to connect kings and leaders with the lives of those they ruled. The result is an engrossing tapestry of human behavior from which we may draw conclusions about the direction of world events and the causes behind them. 13 illustrations, 80 maps.
A tremendous accomplishment Susan Bauer has produced one of the best history books I have ever read. We all know something about the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans, but what Susan does is to tell you about hundreds of kingdoms that existed that you never heard of. Beginning about 3,600 BC there grew up hundreds of kingdoms which fought with each other for century after century. What is clear from this history is that Kings (or Dukes) were the only form of government for almost five thousand years. When these countries were not fighting each other, they were having civil wars. Whenever a king died, the selection of the next ruler was more often than not a cause for hundreds or thousands to be killed trying to decide the next ruler. Murder was one of the most common ways to select a ruler in the middle east. Unless you read Susan's book, you really don't know where civilization came from or how we got where we are now. I highly recommend this book. Susan has a great sense of humor which you will enjoy as you read it.
A Personal Review
What would otherwise be an enjoyable and informative history for the layman is spoiled by the unfortunate portrayal of Jewish/Christian myth as historical fact.
Compelling writing with editing problems I will be using this work as a history text for my homeschooled 10th grader. Over the summer I reviewed this work, prepared study questions, and other assignments. The writing is compelling and exciting. The editing and fact-checking is not good. I did not get past the first section, The Edge of History, without finding date discrepancies and an incorrect river directional flow. I am not mentioning other problems found in subsequent sections.
Even if these problems were originally written by the author, it was the editor's responsibility to catch them. Since I get one set of stars to choose from I will be selecting three overall. I would prefer to give the author five and the editor zero. Zero because this is a history and accuracy, when available, is vital.
Making Ancient History Interesting The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome The author has a writing style that is easy to follow and makes for interesting reading. Although this huge book looks formidable, I found it so captivating that I read through most of it in a few days. The scattered humor and down-to-earth terminology is like reading a fascinating story from beginning to end. Time-lines and alternating chapters help the reader understand what is happening in different parts of the world at the same time. I found it gave me a context for much of what I had learned and particularly the context from which the biblical narratives arose. I recommend it highly for anyone who wants to know more about ancient history yet doesn't have enough time to research various dry texts.
History or fiction? Bauer undermines her own credibility in the preface when she (weakly) defends her decision to use the outmoded BC/AD dating system, stating that since our method of counting years is based on the birth of Christ, it should be indicated as such by using those markers.
To my mind, any "historian" who chooses to use a dating system based on a myth, and a specifically Western one at that, isn't really interested in history at all, especially that of a time period before the myth of Christ was even fabricated. The BC/AD distinction is the result of an arbitrary designation mandated by the Catholic church long ago to shore up a religion not everyone chose to believe in or practice. Since that numbering system is, by now, COMMON usage, it is more appropriate to employ the BCE/CE designation, especially for any historian attempting at least some degree of objectivity.
The review excerpted from PW points out other flaws in the book, so nothing more really needs to be said, except "pass this one by".
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