Book Reviews

+JMJ+ In searching for an image for the cover of the review, I saw that somebody had reviewed The Golden Goblet saying that it was terrible and that the plot took too long to become interesting. I suppose many people today cannot persevere...

Edith Hall has a very interesting approach to providing an overview of Ancient Greek history and culture. Rather than a simple linear narrative, Hall presents the reader with something altogether more playful. In her Introduction, she sets...

Iran tends to appear in Western media today only for negative press: conflicts in the Middle East always include speculation of Iran's involvement for or against the aggressor du jour. It is easy to forget that the people living in the lands...

The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt was written by history novelist G. A. Henty and originally published in 1888 CE. Though the book was meant for people of a high school reading level, it is a rather sophisticated work of literature...

Marc Van De Mieroop's A History of the Ancient Near East is a superb book for students and general readers alike. Its crisp, clear narrative keeps the material lively while covering all of the important points. The third edition improves...

The Ancient City by Arjan Zuiderhoek is a thoughtful study of cities in the ancient world, specifically focusing on ancient Greece and Rome. He argues that the similarities between the cities of these two cultures outweighs the differences...

The Etruscans have long been a neglected civilization of the ancient Mediterranean and reading this book you will wonder how on earth that situation was ever allowed to come about. Sybille Haynes has compiled the single most comprehensive...

The Pax Romana, or Roman Peace, was the idea that the lands governed by the Empire enjoyed long-term stability and prospered because of their submission to Rome. Armies were sent to the frontiers to protect against the invasion of barbarians...

Many times when a reader picks up a book pertaining to a certain event or object in history, it is from one point of view that has either been influenced or created from other ideas to form one concise thought. It is only in other books from...

Professor Joann Fletcher cuts a distinctive figure. Sporting a shock of flaming red hair, dressed in black and normally wielding a black umbrella to ward off the relentless Egyptian sun, she has captivated audiences in her passionate documentaries...