Scan barcode
shu_long's review
2.0
This is the kind of history book that is visually engaging with brilliant illustrations. It's fun to flip through and look at pictures.
However, it's often focused on war, male dominates arts and literary accomplishments exclusively, as well as religions but without content of the religions. There is no cohesive line of events that the mind can carry like a story. With a stunning amount of names and dates, this is the kind of book that teaches many people that they do not like history or are "bad" at history. Even with my degree in East Asian Studies, it was hard to follow, and I've lived in some of these countries for years.
There is also an inevitability and assumption of progress in the tone of the writing. Conquerers are almost always feted. In one line, on page 44, it's written, "The Spanish also had to deal with frequent uprising by the native population and with attacks by Muslim pirates." This shows a certain assumption of the right to rule of the strongest that shows up in a lot of history books, a sort of bias we often don't even realize we're using.
There's also some racial/religious bias in what is chosen to be presented. For example, the massacre of Christians and expulsion of Catholic missionaries in Japan is mentioned twice, with the highest number I've seen (of multiple, estimated number) offered as the number of Christians killed. Numbers of massacred Buddhists during other religious/political conflicts are not mentioned during similar time frames. In fact, the violent events are not even mentioned.
I would say that books like these are set up, by their very nature and attempt to cover to much time and space, to fail my standards. I'm giving it an extra star for having maps, but retracting a start for the discombobulated event presentation and almost total focus on who controlled what, with only the barest context of culture, beliefs, terrain, natural events, etc.
Would not recommend for teaching or getting anyone interested in history. Makes an visually appealing coffee table book and perhaps conversation starter for those who already known their history.
However, it's often focused on war, male dominates arts and literary accomplishments exclusively, as well as religions but without content of the religions. There is no cohesive line of events that the mind can carry like a story. With a stunning amount of names and dates, this is the kind of book that teaches many people that they do not like history or are "bad" at history. Even with my degree in East Asian Studies, it was hard to follow, and I've lived in some of these countries for years.
There is also an inevitability and assumption of progress in the tone of the writing. Conquerers are almost always feted. In one line, on page 44, it's written, "The Spanish also had to deal with frequent uprising by the native population and with attacks by Muslim pirates." This shows a certain assumption of the right to rule of the strongest that shows up in a lot of history books, a sort of bias we often don't even realize we're using.
There's also some racial/religious bias in what is chosen to be presented. For example, the massacre of Christians and expulsion of Catholic missionaries in Japan is mentioned twice, with the highest number I've seen (of multiple, estimated number) offered as the number of Christians killed. Numbers of massacred Buddhists during other religious/political conflicts are not mentioned during similar time frames. In fact, the violent events are not even mentioned.
I would say that books like these are set up, by their very nature and attempt to cover to much time and space, to fail my standards. I'm giving it an extra star for having maps, but retracting a start for the discombobulated event presentation and almost total focus on who controlled what, with only the barest context of culture, beliefs, terrain, natural events, etc.
Would not recommend for teaching or getting anyone interested in history. Makes an visually appealing coffee table book and perhaps conversation starter for those who already known their history.
More...