Explore Ancient Civilizations with Susan Wise Bauer's 'The History of the Ancient World'!

Anthony: It's such a great book. The author has an interesting way of explaining history, which makes it very interesting. Some people complain that it is a religious book. I confirm that it is not and they are complaining for no reason.

Canada on Sep 27, 2022

Jordan Phillips: Let me start out by saying I am a rabid bibliophile and have read innumerable books about ancient history. This one by far has been one of the best I have ever read. I will give you the main points as to why this book is worth the buy.
1. Readability: The author writes a book that is easy to read. She does not strive to use jargon trying to impress you with her literary prowess or use obscure terms to impress her professor or fellowship buddies. Instead she uses easy and concise language that flows so you do not feel like you have to go back and reread as some historians are.
2. Research: This is an excellently researched book. The author has actually read the sources and easily reflects these sources in her writing.
3. Honest: This is a breath of fresh air to say the least. The Author (unlike most historians) will readily admit when there are large gaps in the historical record then (again unlike most historians) she will give you the events that are believed to have happened but leaves a caveat of "no one really knows and this is just best guess". Honestly, how many historians don't try to interject their own beliefs as facts? Like I said a breath of fresh air. She...

United States on Aug 07, 2021

Belinda Lee: Susan Wise Bauer writes brilliantly! If you have gone through Story of the World and need something heavier, this is definitely a great next read. Absolutely loved reading this in my free time!

Australia on Aug 28, 2020

Spencer: Given the range of material Bauer covers in this tome, it is amazing how well she weaves the timelines and stories together. The first section of the book begins with the civilizations with only fragmentary records. None of her work is original, but she assembles stories of Sumer, what would become Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China into a coherent narrative.

She then moves through the various twists and turns of various civilizations as the records improve, new technological and civic inventions grow, and cities become more prominent. What emerges is something that is more complex than the pictures of clay tables with cuneiform writing and fragments of pottery that I remember from my studies of history. Thankfully, she also expands the scope of her interest beyond a flyby of Mesopotamia leading to the Greeks and Romans and landing in a Euro-centric focus. What we get is a fairly balanced record of known civilizations, including those in the East, the Mid-East, and toward the West.

Bauer is surveying four or five thousand years of history of multiple, integrated civilizations. It is amazing that she was able to sort through so much material. This, of course, means...

United States on Jun 10, 2020

Agroneel Mondal: It is just an awesome book for someone who wants glorify its library showcases and racks. Absolutely stunning and Susan Wise Bauer did a great work. But I think there are two unique things which I have found while reading... 1st is that the content is scrambled, the division of content is on the basis of periods but not empires or kingdoms so like one may do comparative study while reading a particular section. 2nd the language is more of literature basis rather informative or conventional history books. Although a great purchase

India on Feb 13, 2019

Eduardo Vieira: Livros de história geral, talvez por falta de espaço, normalmente passam muito rápido da pré-história para a antiguidade clássica (Grécia e Roma), falando muito pouco de Egito e Mesopotâmia.

Não esse livro, que não tenta contar a história toda, mas apenas até a queda de Roma. Mais da metade do livro se prende basicamente a essas duas civilizações que já estavam decadentes quando a Grécia clássica chegava no seu apogeu.

É um livro de História no sentido clássico. Reis e Rainhas, mitológicos ou não, o que se sabe sobre eles e algumas análises sobre o seu significado. Claro que existem informações advindas da arqueologia e sociologia, mas a autora deixa claro no prefácio que o sua prioridade é a história.

O inglês não é dos mais difíceis e as notas de rodapé são ótimas. Pretendo ler a série toda. Recomendo para quem já leu livros mais generalistas. A quantidade de detalhes e nomes pode assustar.

Nesse livro eu fiz a experiência de intercalar a leitura com a audição do áudio, disponível no Audible.com (o site é da Amazon, acho que não tem problema falar aqui). É uma experiência interessante, porque ajuda a "ler"...

Brazil on Jan 10, 2017

A. N. Other: First of all the title of this book is slightly misleading as it doesn't go up to the fall of Rome(thats in the next volume), but goes up to the time of Constantine. But that does in no way detract from what is an incredibly well written chronological narrative of the ancient world. Someone has written that it reads almost like a novel and it does, covering the stories of civilizations and cultures and their rulers, and how they interacted with each other in bite size chapters interspersed with maps of the regions and timelines. Some reviews of this book on other sites have said that it has overly religious overtones, but the people who have said that obviously did not read the preface intro by the author. The author is relying on written accounts(usually from the time) to tell the stories of the civilizations which obviously involves using accounts from religious sources and of course EVERYONE in those times was religious in some way. Those stories need to be told because they are what give an insight into the culture and people of the time which is what she was aiming for. Nowhere did I see that she said these stories were fact or fiction. It also does touch upon other key...

United Kingdom on Mar 31, 2014