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Title: Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History by Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, Jennifer Tolbert Roberts, Burstein Donlan Pomeroy ISBN: 0-19-509743-2 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: January, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $44.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (8 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Sacrifices detail; no original research.
Comment: This is not a terrible book. It is OK, perhaps pretty good. Let us discuss its virtues: it is clear and simple. There are many pretty pictures, most of which are well-chosen. Unlike many things I have read in the ancient world recently (such as the Oxford Classical Dictionary's awful definition of pornography) the political correctness is quite intelligent, bridled, and well-balanced, not strident or out of control at all. The authors even take the "Goddess" school to task, gently pointing out that, pace the Merlin Stone and Gimbutas School, the view that Old Europe once together worshipped a female goddess is out of style. I like that, and I like the generally balanced viewpoints on many things: it's not too left wing, not terribly right wing. It takes into account recent observations without becoming crippled by an orthodox postmodernism, either.
That was the good part. Here's the bad part. It's bland. Clear, yes: but bland. Second, most of its clarity derives from its refusal to give specifics. The book is truly aimed for highschoolers, not college students. (Perhaps junior college in California: I'll compromise.) Compare it with Raphael Sealey's excellent "A History of the Greek City States" on any section -- take Peisistratus for an example. True, Sealey doesn't have chapters entitled "Women in Greece," but he certainly has done his own research rather than blandly blending the research of others. That's the biggest problem with this book: it bears the mark of a general general textbook seven generations from any original research.
It's not horrible. It would be quite suitable, for example , for my mother or your grandmother or someone like that who has little college education. The pictures are pretty; it moves along fine, though sacrificing detail greatly. It's much too expensive for a cheap paperback, though. Perhaps the expense is the pictures: it's certainly not the fine writing or original research.
Rating: 5
Summary: I can't put down enough praise.
Comment: Luckily, this was the first book I ever read about Ancient Greece and I feel very fortuneate about it. Book is very comprehensive in many ways, and it is both extremely entertaining as well as informative. There is just about everything you need to know. I had fragments of information that I have gathered through out my life and this book just filled the missing gap. This book did not just lay facts, but had various parables and also had interesting references from many other sources. It want into details of many lives and I learned about Alexander the Great, Plato, about Sparta and contrasting Athens and more. This book is quite long but never boring, and you can read it like any other fiction books. Some topics will interest you more and will lead you to other books. In my case I have bought Plutarch's lives.
Rating: 2
Summary: is history science?
Comment: I found the book poor when it comes to the critical evaluation
of modern archaeological findings. I do not recommend it.
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Title: The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece by Robert Morkot ISBN: 0140513353 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: January, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Archaic and Classical Greece : A Selection of Ancient Sources in Translation by Michael H. Crawford, David Whitehead ISBN: 0521296382 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 13 January, 1983 List Price(USD): $44.00 |
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Title: History of the Peloponnesian War (Penguin Classics) by Thucydides, Rex Warner, M. I. Finley ISBN: 0140440399 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: September, 1954 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Portable Greek Historians: The Essence of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius (Viking Portable Library (Paper)) by Moses I. Finley ISBN: 014015065X Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: September, 1977 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Greek Polis (Readings in Western Civilization, Vol 1) by Arthur W.H. Adkins, Peter White, John W. Boyer, Authur W. H. Adkins ISBN: 0226069354 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: May, 1986 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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