it's almost like reading what was not written in the history books
919747
Well done and for Texans who know their state's political history, it's almost like reading what was not written in the history books.
2236017
I really believe this author can take you to an era of history so naturally you really feel you are there, one thousand years ago.

This is not for those who demand lots of action, plot twists, heavy romance, or sex. But if you can enjoy a contemplative read and to feel what it must have been like to live in the 10th century as a noble lady in the emperor's court, then this is for you.

And it's all done so naturally; there's none of that heavy-handed putting in of historically accurate detail just so we can admire the author's efforts to be accurate. All the detail just seems to belong there, from the taken-for-granted idea that highborn women naturally blacken their teeth to the fact that they wear five robes at a time and have hibachis as their sole form of winter heating. And the result is that you just seem to be there.

I loved the book and hated to see it end.

There are no wars, no battles, just life at the Japanese royal court. This includes a lot of poetry writing, something that everyone was expected to be able to do--brief little poems dashed off at a moment's notice to respond to whatever is happening at the time. Also, there are no doctors, pharmacies, or presciptions, only rituals, to get rid of evil spells, cast by evil spirits or ghosts.
1604569
Being a history buff, I love reading stuff like this. Great Job !
386912
I like books from long ago because they are like a virtual time machine. The expressions and history of the world at the time they were written are a bonus. There was a miniscule derogatory line about the pope and when I researched I found it was written around the time when a law was enacted banning Catholics from parliament.
This was an interesting read.

Carl
208146
Every book has a different angle just like the history it copied.
3542148
It is very dense with information that I was not aware of although I read a lot of history books.  I will probably read it twice.
16592
This is a book for people who read history and love original source material. Quotes and sometimes the full text of concurrent newspaper articles and correspondence give dimension and color to this period of history that is most often brought to us in the romantic glow of fiction. This history was not in your high school textbook -- or your college one either. It is difficult to hear of a cruel time in our history, but it is enlightening especially when the heroism is mostly on the side cast as the enemy in fictional accounts. This book brings again to light from authentic voices the realities of reconstruction that we have collectively chosen to forget. Read it to remember, because remembering is what identifies us as human beings.
3987937
What first struck me were the similarities to today with the  same area.  A super historical illumination to life and the never severed connection to past events, to history.
3819359
Though I struggled in the beginning to get into this, I eventually got the hang of its flow and rhythm and thoroughly enjoyed the book. The historical details are extraordinary and fascinating. This is the type of book you need to read slowly to really understand and appreciate. Don't put it down just because it's not as fast-paced as you would typically like. Treat it like a short story collection. Dip in and out. That way you can give the content time to soak in, and you'll realize, just what an incredible history this mother and daughter shared. I highly recommend this for any reader who enjoys epistolary nonfiction and doesn't like to rush their reading.
1839896
I'm not always interested in history, but this presents it in a very applicable way to our time.
39421
This book takes the cake as a history book.  It's almost like your reading a novel, but then you flip the pages and see the back cover where it says "history" and you curse, just a little, because you normally have sworn off history after high school but just can't find yourself able to throw the book down.  Bradford's enthusiasim for the history part isn't lost though; oh no, by far it's transformed into an endearing and worthwhile tale of the Knights of St. John.  His prose is so gentle yet sweeping that he easily delves into and out of side-descriptions and filler information, in fact a lot better than most modern novels do.  He gets you to feel the Aegean sun that battered the backs of these superb soldiers and first rate monks when they were at Rhodes, and I can tell you that from word one to word end "The Shield and the Sword" is the book to read for history, whether you like the Crusades, adventure, war-stuff, or heck, you just want a good read.  I'd personally recommend it for anyone- the stuffy nosed scholar or the curious child, the wondering joe off the street or the guy who sits at his computer screen reading this review (yes you, oh great and enlightened one!).  So yeah, five stars, it's excellent.
1911700
This book is one of the most surprising and delightful things I have stumbled across in a decade.  It almost instantly changed my understanding of some very important history.

If I may cite a parallel,&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Bloodlands-Europe-Between-Hitler-and-Stalin/dp/0465002390/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin</a>&nbsp;similarly demolished my old "idea" that Hitler rounded up all the Jews in Germany and gassed them, and that was it for 6 million people!  It turns out this is completely wrong.  In the first place, there weren't nearly enough Jews left in Germany, most of them having gotten out when the getting was good.  What actually happened was that Hitler invaded Poland, and found most of his Jewish victims in Poland and the other parts of the Bloodlands, which is where the actual killing-camps were located.

Similarly, I had an idea of Christianity arising in Israel, with St. Paul spreading it to Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome, and then, after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the religion spread into Europe with its beloved monasteries and cathedrals.

Not quite so.  The major expansion began in Israel and then went East and South: to Asia and Africa.  There were hundreds of churches and bishoprics throughout Syria, Iraq, Iran, India, Egypt, Ethiopia, Tunisia and Algeria.  Even after Islam burst forth from the sands of Saudi Arabia, they used the Christians as high-level civil servants and translators, mostly because the Arabs tended to be illiterate at the beginning of their imperial days.  So, for a thousand years, the Christian center of gravity was in the East, and the main language of Christianity was Syriac, not Latin or Greek.  In North Africa, Christianity vanished by 800 AD, but elsewhere it was a vitally important religious force until c. 1300 A.D.

Here's something else very thought-provoking:

"On occasion, the remnants of old religions transform their victors. No worthwhile history of Islam could omit the history of the Sufi orders, whose practices so often recall the bygone world of the Christian monks. It was the Christian monastics who had sought ecstasy and unity with the divine by the ceaseless repetition of prayers, a practice that would become central to the Sufi tradition. Once dead, Sufi adepts continued to attract devotees to their tombs, so that venerated sheikhs fulfilled exactly the same role for Muslims that the Christian saints had in their day. Christianity and Islam have far more in common than many rigorous believers of either faith would care to admit."

This book cannot really be summarized, but it IS excellent and it will really open your eyes!

Highest possible recommendation!

-----

"Only by understanding the lost Eastern Christianities can we understand where Islam comes from, and how very close it is to Christianity."
3034710
I am a big history buff and have read history and science all my life. When I read Watersheds of World History by John L. Taylor is was so nice to see what little I knew and so much I didn't know, expressed so elegantly and gracefully in this book. The book flowed like a novel rather than a history book. It seamlessly blended the history of man and all that encompasses the complexities that goes with man into this book without making it boring or having "too many dates and numbers" to remember. The biggest complaint I think people have to reading history books. It may have referenced the Bible for history more than I liked but I guess that is part of man's history too. Overall, a wonderful book if you love history. All that chattered around in my head was laid out so nicely and other things I never knew I learned from this. Great book. I received this book from the author to read and a review was not expected.
2904914
The book itself is well written.  It feels like it drags on, but part of that is the reality of the situation faced by the Nez Perce.  The best part of the book is the story that it tells that differs so greatly from what we have been taught for so long.  If you love history and the history of the U.S. West, read this book.
1216855
Almost went to four stars because the illustrations in the paperback edition were not as easy to read as they might have been.  But, not the author's fault, and honestly, this guy is pretty amazing.  He gives you a sweeping overview of something I know little about, though I had plenty of Latin and Greek in college.  In fact, that is part of his point: the history of Mesopotamia was erased, partly because of the shift from cuneiform to the alphabet.  That fact alone is worth the price of the book.  If you like history at all, you'd have to like this book.  Kriwaczek seems to know everything (where did he learn so much about so much?).  And yet, he keeps it interesting.  I get that it's a lot of history to get into one book, but it's hard to imagine telling such a long and complicated story any better than he does it.
2537809
We still don't know who made these or when, exactly, but I know a lot more about what was going on in the area, and the world, in that time period.  Very exciting! I only wish there had been pictures of all the pieces.  The maps were a very nice addition. Though it is written like popular history - i.e. reads like a novel, sometimes a thriller - the notes and bibliography lend it scholarly weight. I've read two books by this author now, and feel like I should read everything else she has written!
1678802
I really enjoyed this book. However, it kind of reads like a history book so im not sure that every reader will enjoy it as much as I did.