The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome

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 that there is a great deal detail left out and many places where Bauer was forced to pick a reading of history and run with it. It is clear from some of her footnotes that she is aware of alternate interpretations, but it’s a survey, not a monograph on a particular subject. The book is written in a manner that will displease some Christians and also anger vocal secularists. Bauer assumes an ancient earth and treats the Hebrew Bible in the same manner she treats other historical sources. This, of course, means that she is much less derogatory toward the value of those ancient documents than many secular scholars would be, which leads to accusations of religious bias. At the same time, she also does not hold to a young earth and sometimes floats assertions that the biblical record was sanitized to make certain kings look good. This perspective will tend to annoy some Christians, particularly homeschoolers seeking to rigorously shield their children from opposing views. (A quick scan of the Amazon reviews shows that both of these positions exist in decent numbers.) Frankly, as a conservative Christian, I think this book is an excellent way to introduce a child later in her schooling to critical sources. There will be a point at which our kids are going to have to engage with other voices to grow and learn, Bauer’s approach is good historically and at least fair toward the Judeo-Christian tradition. I can’t give advice to secularist parents, other than to note that her assumptions are pretty mild and certainly not satisfying in any religious way. This isn’t a book seeking to promote the Judeo-Christian tradition as the one, true religion. It also doesn’t go out of the way to bash Judaism and Christianity, either. As a religious text, it fails; as a history book, it’s pretty good. Aside from debates about Bauer’s biases, this is, above all, an extremely readable book. It certainly isn’t a novel, graphic or otherwise, but it was a pleasure to pick this book up and read a couple of chapters every day. I wouldn’t recommend the volume for elementary readers, but for a thoughtful high schooler this would make an excellent text for homeschool or as summer reading. I picked up an electronic copy of the study guide that goes with the book and it is well structured with enough questions and answers to help this integrate easily into the homeschooling parent’s life, without having to become an expert. This is the sort of book that I wish I had had access to when I was younger. I would have read the volume just for edification, beyond my regular school work. I am looking forward to the next two volumes in the series and very hopeful that Bauer writes the fourth and final volume in the very near future. Note: This is an edited version of a review posted at Ethics and Culture.

I downloaded the Kindle version of this book. I had no problems with it. Even the graphics were quite good. I had world history in HS nearly 50 years ago. And I had another course in college. While I always enjoyed history, ancient history was always focused on the parts that were direct antecedents of European history. Ancient history was always problematic because there isn’t much solid to go on. So the courses were mostly view maps showing rounded blobs superimposed on familiar geography with weird sounding civilization names that seemed to be at war or trade with each other. Frankly, that part of history was boring. As I grew older, I wondered about a more holistic approach to world history. I wanted to know what was happening in China during the time of early Mesopotamian history. Then this book came into my life. She writes history like I want to read it. It’s not academia-speak. She’s really honest. She says what is known and what is unknown. She presents theories and explains the pros and cons of each one. And how she can do this without it sounding like a dry text book amazes me. I’m reading this book like a read an enjoyable work of fiction. But it’s not fiction. I’m not a historian. I’m an interested and educated lay person. When I finish this volume, I’ll move on chronologically to the other two books in the series. I’m very happy I purchased this. I’d recommend it to people who have an interest in this, but don’t want to devote the effort to slog through a textbook. I’m retired and I read for pleasure. This is one of the most pleasurable history books I’ve read in a long time.

This author is quite adept at writing general outlines of historical periods featuring major characters. Her books (we have all the ones in this series) also provide many convenient maps showing approximate boundaries of numerous empires that rose and fell through time-- in the case of this particular book, in the ancient period. She also takes you through the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires not only in Mesopotamia but also in India, China, and elsewhere, providing a wider view of our world at that time. What we found amusing and curious though, is that while she approached all the various gods of the different ancient Near Eastern kingdoms as mythical figures, she presents one particular one, namely the Yahweh character, as God with a capital G, as if it was somehow real while all the others were mythical fabrications. Other than that, we find her books well written and quite interesting to read. Regarding what we'd consider a more scholarly and honest viewpoint concerning the gods of the ancient Near East, we would recommend "Gods of the Bible," by Mauro Biglino, who is quite the expert in the field. And, since the "gods" of the various kingdoms play such significant roles in the politics, art forms, wars, culture, worship, laws, etc. of those kingdoms, it would be helpful to understand what was REALLY going on with those, and on that point, the author of this book being reviewed totally misses the mark. So, yes, we give 4 stars for overall quality, readability, scope, and info and would recommend this book and the others in the same series. The one star lacking was for the blatantly subjective views of the author concerning a particular ancient war god, which entity she spent an inordinate amount of pages on as well, which revealed a personal bias v. objective analysis.

Anyone reading my reviews knows I am a tough reviewer; however, this book has gained a five star review and I wish I could add in some way to that accolade. This is a book that is a joy to read. It is informative and entertaining. You can read about the copper river (the Euphrates named Uruttu) or the Greatest Battle in Very Ancient Times (Rameses II vs the Hittites at Kadesh) or the fall of Rome. She even covers the far East, telling us how Confucius "...offered another way for men to control the society that surrounded them." Susan Wise Bauer covers the ancient world very thoroughly and she blends a lot of excitement into the stories of the past. Unlike the vast majority of history books, Bauer's The History of the Ancient World avoids dull. And even better than that, Susan Wise Bauer avoids being, in any way, political in her evaluations of the past. From the events she has chosen worthy of inclusion to the short but pithy evaluations of those events she maintains her absolute air of uncompromising neutrality. In today's politically charged world this isn't easy to do, and that elevates her to the best of writers. Part One is entitled The Edge of History and starts with the origin of Kingship. Part Five (the last) is entitled Identity and outlines the great empires that ended the ancient world. From the world wide flood legends to India and the coming of the Aryans and China's struggles for unity Ms Bauer succinctly tells us the glories and pitfalls of the past and how it impacts our world even now. The book has over 85 maps and each one of them is well made, easy to read, and adds to the understanding of the events. These maps add another factor that many history books miss. Without maps history is very hard to follow. Even some of the greatest history writers of our time, J. M. Roberts The History of the World for example, miss the importance of maps. Ms Bauer's focus on this oft neglected aspect of history books tells us a lot about how eager she is to get a deeper understanding of history across to the reader. In my opinion her history succeeds at every level. Outstanding work. AD2

Not only is this a difficult time period of which to write about, Ms. Bauer will reinforce her writing using the art of repetition to assist the reader in understanding and retaining. I will rarely qualify a non-fiction book as a page-turner, but this will prompt you to move along in history. I love this style and will look forward to her books of later time periods.

I'm always amused by people who throw a screaming fit at the slightest mention of the Bible or the God of the Bible. It is ironic that while these people loudly proclaim their allegiance to reason and logic, they will happily accept the most ridiculous historical theory as long as it contradicts the orthodox Judeo-Christian view (fans of Da Vinci Code come to mind). Most of the 1-star reviews of the "History of the Ancient World" come from this kind of crowd. Bauer's alleged crime: treating the Book of Exodus as a historical book. Never mind the fact that she clearly states that Egyptian records don't have any mention of the exodus. Never mind the fact that it's just one chapter out of 80+ chapters in the book. Never mind the fact she employs a similar strategy of using mythological or semi-mythological material in other places in the book. No, the enlightened ones fly into the angry frenzy and nothing shall appease them. I can't help but wonder, was Sunday School really this bad? If anything, the people who should be truly offended by this book are Christians. The birth, life and crucifixion of Jesus Christ are given less than a page of coverage. That's right, the most important event in the history human civilization, which shaped the course of events for at least two thousand years afterwards, is basically skimmed over as some minor incident involving "a wandering prophet". Meanwhile, Confucius, Buddha and Muhammad (in the sequel book "History of Medieval World") get a chapter each. This strikes me as quite unbalanced. Having said this, "The History of the Ancient World" is a wonderfully written and engaging history book. The author's style is lively and even funny at time. She covers all major civilizations of the ancient world. Numerous maps make the text easier to comprehend and to follow. By the time I was done with the book, I had a fairly good idea of what happened in the first three thousand years of human civilization. My only qualm with this book (in addition to the above-mentioned glossing over the person of Jesus) is that it could use just a little bit more descriptions of the cultures and day-to-day of ancient civilizations. I don't mind the relentless emphasis on kings and wars. But it would be nice to spend just a little more time on describing what life was like for these people, how their economy was structured, and what kind of society they generally had. Still, this is a great general overview of ancient history and I highly recommend it.

The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome I enjoyed the book throughout, it could not have been an easy task for Ms. Bauer to begin her three book series by covering nearly four millennia of history. I ended up buying the entire series, The Medieval World and the Renaissance World, as I wanted to continue the story as she tells it so smoothly. In fact, she drew me into areas of history that I had not thought of exploring for the near term, such as the Shang, Zhou and Han dynasties of Ancient China, of which I have now saved more than a handful of books to explore for purchase. There were two minor issues with this book, yet I still felt it earned a five star review. One is the map of Egypt was printed upside down a few times, whereas the other maps were correct with North facing upwards. Yes, Lower Egypt is in the North, and Upper Egypt is in the South, but that would not be a good reason to print the map upside down in my opinion. The other issue was with the overuse of Ibid, which at times went back a few pages. It would have been more useful to do as is outlined below: "The 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style discourages the use of ibid., which previously was used to refer the same source cited in the previous footnote. Instead of using ibid., a shortened form of the citation may be used." Ms. Bauer is a wonderful story teller, I feel she will draw me further into areas of history that I had not yet considered, as I am currently reading her second book of the series. Thank you, well done

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 leaves concise footnotes that are easy to read and not a mile long or just copies of the source she pulled the information from. She gives equal time and facts to all religions and does not merely write religion off as if it is some nasty part of history that needs to disappear. 4. Humorous: This is what really put this book over the top. The author keeps the information humorous when the occasion calls for it. There are a few times reading this book that I actually "LOL"d. As an example when she explains the Egyptian royal tendency of marrying your sister she explains it as "icky". I thought little things like that made this book awesome. This book is an excellent survey and I would highly recommend for any historian from novice to professor.

I really enjoy this book. Enough detail to teach you but not boring like typical history textbooks.

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" (ouvir) em menos tempo total, pois você consegue avançar na "leitura" enquanto dirige (num livro de quase mil páginas, isso é interessante). O problema é que, só ouvindo, não tem como pegar as notas de rodapé (eu voltei aos capítulos no texto para procura-las). Eu gostei muito de ouvir e ler ao mesmo tempo, principalmente fazendo exercício na esteira. É o melhor de dois mundos, embora talvez seja um pouco mais lento que ler sem audição.

This is a WONDERFUL book. I bought it first as an audio book, but found i kept wanting to repeat bits (or share bits with my family and friends) so i wanted a hard copy. This is scholarship at its most accessible, i learned so much (and i not new to Ancient history it has been my hobby for 15 years) . The author manages to grab the exact moment, documents and stories to keep you high engaged (and sometimes on the edge of your seat). I was reading on my beach holiday and kept peppering my family with “oh, listen to THIS bit”. Don’t hesitate…it's magnificent.

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

Excelente.!!!