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

Really impressive how formulaic sequential this book is. The timelines are very easy for keeping track of progress. It is sometimes hard to keep track of all the names of the historical characters (the Assyrian and Chinese aristocrats in particular) as they occur often in quick succession with no context beforehand. This is a minor point. The first half of the book really sets a clear stage for the evolution of ancient civilization. The second half increasingly has more and more information to pack in so more gets cut but Susan is great at providing you with footnotes and references for further reading and she makes sure every key character from history gets a mention. It is not an easy or hard book to read. It lies somewhere in the middle, the more characters and locations involved, the harder I found it to read so it varies greatly from chapter to chapter. I do thoroughly recommend it as an introduction to every aspect of ancient history

Having read rather more than a few books on human history, I would recommend Bauer. She has written an excellent series here, this being the first one. I particularly like the occasional sprinkle of ironic humour, which frankly we deserve as a species. But the message is also pretty clear from bare fact: we’re a mostly brutal species and if history offers a lesson then the future will not be full of light and wonder.

I would not recommend this book, unless the reader is looking for their own entertainment. I heard good reports about the 'The Story of the World' for primary school, but this is not good for secondary schoolers that do not work independently.

I have already returned one copy due to faulty binding, and now this one has a creases dust jacket!

A very good account of the ancient world it is highly readable, and covers a wide scope I would completely recommended this fabulous book.