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A review by kaylecorey
The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome by Susan Wise Bauer
5.0
What screams 'Holidays' more than a nearly 900 page tome on history spanning from Mesopotamia to the Roman Empire? This book was a welcome respite from being bombarded by modern holiday cheer, and sincerely one of the most interesting pieces of nonfiction I've read in quite some time. BCE society is so often described in impersonal terms, with dates and facts but no personification of the residents. Bauer did an excellent job of humanizing people of whom there is little anthropological information available, making the history of people thousands of years removed from ourselves feel accessible.
An important note about this book is its structure. It moves through time periods, not through groups. So at times, it can feel jumpy going from Egypt to Rome to China to Greece. Keeping people and periods straight is quite difficult, and I found myself having to go back more than once to make sure I understood the when and where of the content I was reading. It is an incredible comprehensive book, and I think the structure was the right choice. Fitting over 5000 years of history into a single book is a lot of ground to cover.
As a child who frequently read her history textbooks for fun, I loved this book. It is a perspective rarely found in the relaying of ancient history, and one that feels infinitely more human than the detached dates and maps found in the history books of my formal education. This is a must read for anyone with interests in any ancient civilization, but especially Sumerian, Arcadian/Greek, and Egyptian.
An important note about this book is its structure. It moves through time periods, not through groups. So at times, it can feel jumpy going from Egypt to Rome to China to Greece. Keeping people and periods straight is quite difficult, and I found myself having to go back more than once to make sure I understood the when and where of the content I was reading. It is an incredible comprehensive book, and I think the structure was the right choice. Fitting over 5000 years of history into a single book is a lot of ground to cover.
As a child who frequently read her history textbooks for fun, I loved this book. It is a perspective rarely found in the relaying of ancient history, and one that feels infinitely more human than the detached dates and maps found in the history books of my formal education. This is a must read for anyone with interests in any ancient civilization, but especially Sumerian, Arcadian/Greek, and Egyptian.