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dee9401's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting read that could have been edited down a bit more. It felt, especially during the first three chapters, to be like a PBS / NatGeo program that kept reiterating the same point over and over again. But, I enjoyed it and wanted to finish it. The ending made it worth it for me, in that he notes that while all societies can and have collapsed in the past, we today can "take steps to fix things, rather than simply passively accept things as they occur" (p. 179). It reminded me of Asimov's Harry Seldon in the Foundation series. Seldon was an historian who realized the galactic empire would collapse but he worked to make the collapse and rebirth of a new empire less painful and shorter in time span.
jimmacsyr's review against another edition
4.0
I liked the details provided about the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean life. The first ~third of the book had a “in order to know ____, you need to know ____” feel. I enjoyed the feel of going down rabbit holes. Really nice descriptions of the different kingdoms. I particularly enjoyed the Trojan war discussions.
daveb's review against another edition
4.0
Cline portrays uses numerous sources of information to bring the time period life. Discussing the interconnections between nations and city-states just before a great collapse of civilization through out the Eastern Mediterranean. He ties together the information from many different nations to weave a cohesive theory for the collapse, and in doing so paints a very good picture of the period.
ammonfh's review against another edition
challenging
dark
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
tessisreading2's review against another edition
5.0
I'm still somewhat bewildered that I found this book as readable and easy to follow as I did; I feel like I've stumbled out of a tornado muttering "Sea People... Hittites... harem conspiracies!" and I'm not quite sure where I've put all this new knowledge. Anyway, it was fun, although definitely highly reliant on archaeological sources and therefore lacking in, like, fun Roman takedowns of political rivals and other written sources.
olicooper's review against another edition
2.0
This was cool, but probably for someone who ABSOLUTELY nerds out on architecture.
I was definitely pulled in during the sections that involved various events in ancient history that already draw me-- but the rest read rather dry.
But if you are looking for the answer as to why early civilizations collapsed, I'll sum it up for you in this earth shattering conclusion: well, it was a combination of things.
lol, I jest. But really good work is detailed throughout! Just bear in mind, you're gonna get a lot of excerpts of ancient lists and marriage agreements.
I was definitely pulled in during the sections that involved various events in ancient history that already draw me-- but the rest read rather dry.
But if you are looking for the answer as to why early civilizations collapsed, I'll sum it up for you in this earth shattering conclusion: well, it was a combination of things.
lol, I jest. But really good work is detailed throughout! Just bear in mind, you're gonna get a lot of excerpts of ancient lists and marriage agreements.
poxav's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting book structured as a introductory guide to the archeology surrounding the topic, rather than as a narrative, but results in a sense of completeness and, in its own way, hope for the future.
karp76's review against another edition
3.0
“In a complex system such as our world today, this is all it might take for the overall system to become destabilized, leading to a collapse.” The title promises a bold and valiant premise and delivers neither. This reads like a graduate paper or nothing more than an academic review. Again, a title as bold and promising as this, beckons readers, all readers to come, let me whisper the interesting and fascinating to you. The common reader will be put off at best and completely lost at worst. The text is dry and academic and affords that you must have at least a sturdy survey of LBA Mediterranean and Levant culture. Is not all a waste. The last 30, 40 pages moves away from the academic survey into Cline's own thoughts and feelings, the narrative lightening and changing to his tone, gathering and dissecting the last 150 odd pages into a more palatable digestion, but still it does not deliver on its promised title. This is one for the student, not the reader.