Download PDF The History of the Ancient World From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome Audible Audio Edition Susan Wise Bauer John Lee Audible Studios Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 26 hours and 20 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher Audible Studios Audible.com Release Date August 12, 2013 Whispersync for Voice Ready Language English, English ASIN B00D1YRUL4

The History of the Ancient World From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome Audible Audio Edition Susan Wise Bauer John Lee Audible Studios Books Reviews

• My gifted child quickly pointed out numerous statements made throughout this book that have religious undertones. The author dots this book with personal opinions and conclusions that easily disputable. My child is a huge history buff and was able to identify the difference between facts and inferences, in particular those that had to do with religion. We dropped the program and the books as a result. We found the same to be true in Story of the World, which is written for younger children. I won't say it's terrible, but should a parent decide to use these books to teach secular history, it would require careful attention to these occurrences.
• This is a breezy, once-over-lightly history of the ancient world that offers a good introduction to the topic for the general reader. To her credit, Bauer is a nimble writer and a pleasant guide through what could be arid material. She also includes discussions of civilizations--especially China and India-- too often left out of ancient histories, though these can feel tacked on, connected to the central narrative by phrases like "Meanwhile, at the other end of the Silk Road..." A larger difficulty is that Bauer focuses on military and political events almost to the exclusion of cultural and demographic history. Too often the narrative reads like an endless parade of egomaniacal despots beating each other over the head to see who can stay on top. This can get dreary after a while, particularly without some sense of what it was like to live in Egypt rather than Mesopotamia, Persia rather than Greece. We want to more about how civilization developed, and less on whose borders were expanding at the expense of their neighbors. Another difficulty is that Bauer too blithely accepts myth as history. Even when she admits that the legends are not literally true, her explanations of what they tell us are often facile and unconvincing. All in all, however, this and the volumes that follow offer a well-written introduction to world history.
• I love this book. Susan Wise Bauer has managed to do what a bunch of years in school and a couple of degrees could not do- make history interesting and entertaining for me. Although this book covers an amazing span of time, it doesn't feel disjointed as so many world or ancient history books do. It was also refreshing to see an actual sense of humor occasionally included. I'm not sure what it is about history that makes some writers seem as if they have to be stiff as boards, but Susan Wise Bauer definitely is not. I plan to continue on with the series. If you're looking for a nice overview of ancient history I would definitely recommend this.
• This is a readable survey of ancient history that is engrossing and well researched. For someone like me who loves history but knows of the ancient world only what I've heard from podcasts about the ancient world... it was perfect. A deep dive. It took six months for me to get through, but I was never bored and always excited to get back to this readable prose. Rare is the historian who's also a good writer. Bauer is one of the few.
• I teach with this text and it is superior to any other 9th grade ancient history textbook by a significant margin.
• I'm about 75% of the way through this book. It focuses on peoples/civilizations that left records, from the very earliest to the fall of Rome. I've read other, more regionally focused, histories of ancient Greece and Persia. This book puts those histories into the full context (full recorded context) starting about 7000 BC and covering the Fertile Crescent, the area between the Indus and Ganges, the area between the Yellow and Yangtze, Asia Minor, the "Levant," the Greek and Italian peninsulas, and Egypt. It is well written, easy to follow, and includes a great deal of detail. I am not a historian, just a curious lay person with an abiding curiosity about how people developed and changed their societies.
  
  The History of the Ancient World covers the events that were recorded, leaving aside as (even more) speculative the interpretation of occurrences not recorded (typically by the powerful and the victors, or those who would have posterity believe they were the victors). There is a lot of food for thought. I guess it's obvious, but the reading makes vivid that peoples have always advanced their worlds by fighting and conquest, treating the losers (more often than not) as grossly inferior, fit to be killed or enslaved. Some victors (Persians spring to mind), left the conquered people's native gods and worship in place, using the conquest as a source of tribute and soldiers.
  
  There are frequent maps and comparative timelines that set the occurrences in different parts of the world side by side in time. in addition, everything is footnoted so one knows where to look in order to follow up with original sources. Which brings me to the reason it only gets 3 stars (content gets 5). As is usual with books, the navigation is poor and the footnotes (in this book) don't actually link about 70% of the time. It's really too bad and book publishers have done such a terrible job making the book experience more like the web. Suggestions would include allowing well-organized hyperlinks, the ability to copy and paste, or even just reliable footnote navigation. As there is no competition to force innovation, I hold out little hope that Jeff Bezos and will improve the experience. Why should they? We pay $10 - $20+ for books that cost them zero to print or ship. There is no (serious) competitor to force innovation, so, as a business they take the money and wait until forced to improve. Too bad.
  
  Great book, same old mediocre experience.