Good history; so-so analysis.
352559
Kirkpatrick Sale is a first rate historian, but as an analyst of history he tends to be blinded by his own so-called "Neo-Luddite" leanings. He does correctly identify that the Luddite movement was not about machinery, per se, but rather about social tensions arising in Europe, and that attacking machinery was simply an easy target. But his misses much in his economic analysis.
Like many neo-luddites and "left anarchists", Sale believes in small government, but his (and their) small government is not small in power; it has the power to compel decentralization and to resdistribute income. It is, like Chomsky's 1970s-variety anarchism, Socialism under a different rubric.
Sale believes that large corporations, large cities and any large scale human endevor must be artificial, created in order to exploit man and nature, which rather puts him at odds with the experiences documented through most of written history. He rejects the efficiencies people have traditionally found in both trade and scale, and prefers instead an enforced village. The are a good many inconsistencies in his rationale; he decries the large corproation, but wants to redistribute the wealth produced by such  entities. One wonders where the wealth will come from once he destroys the wealth producers; I am reminded very much of the recent history of Zimbabwe.
In summary, then: Not his best work, but worth reading for the historical material, and for some of the social analysis. Just take the economics with a large dose of salt.
3777146
3.5 Stars

Not a bad overview for the general reader, but he does skip around quite a bit. It makes it harder to follow the progression. He writes well, but usually, history is easier to read if things are a bit more linear. (-1 star)

Also, he takes every opportunity to push some kind of agenda for environmentalism (bad fossil fuels, global warming, etc.). That would be fine in other contexts but I don't prefer that in what is a very brief 'history' book. (-1 star)

Also, while there are some errors and erroneous conclusions in the book, I didn't deduct any stars for them because it is supposed to be a very concise book. Plus, he does give some nice little tidbits along the way that are interesting. (+1 star)

If you need a broad brush of world history it is a nice book to read. I would recommend it.
1018518
Norman Davies' "Europe: A History" spans the period from pre-history to the early 1990s.  It's 1,136 pages of text (hardcover edition) narrate the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires; the influx and outflux of tribes, peoples, and cultures; the influence of religion; the development of Western music, literature, art, and architecture; and all the standard topics in between.  Its twelve basic chapters (organized roughly by "era") are supplemented by an additional 130+ pages of indices which include lists, graphs, tables, and statistical data.  And sprinkled throughout are 300 "Capsules" which address all manner of interesting tidbits, from particular people, particular cities, and particular events.  It is fully footnoted, and contains what Davies (or his publishers) describe as a "Selective Index."  In all, it is an ambitious undertaking, and a singular achievement.

One of the real hallmarks of this work is that Davies' concept of "Europe" takes into account not only the familiar geography and events of Western Europe, but incorporates events in Eastern Europe (including, and perhaps especially, Russia), Scandinavia, and the  Balkans.  To the extent that nearby regions, such as Asia Minor, have impacted developments in "Europe," they are also incorporated into the narrative.  One of the real benefits of this book is that it will stretch the reader's conceptualization of what "Europe" is.

Be advised that Davies' is not shy about interpreting this history through the expression of his own opinions, or even value judgments.  Although not strictly objective, the insights into his own point of view -- sometimes expressed overtly, sometimes subtly -- will give the reader enough perspective on his orientation to factor in whatever bias he may have incorporated into this work.

For most readers, this will not be a casual undertaking.  It took me the better part of a year to read it.  But the writing is clear, the events and movements recounted in quite comprehensible form, and (at least in my copy) the ink did not fade from one reading session to the next.  I am certain the author did not write it in a day, and nobody should expect to read it in even two.

Of course, there has been some criticism of the book, mostly from those who believe that it does not give sufficient attention to events in Poland during the Second World War.  After reading the entire text, I am not moved by those alleged shortcomings, which, judged against the whole, seem to more reflect contemporary "political correctness" than any real grievance.  Davies did not omit to narrate the crimes against Humanity perpetrated during that recent conflict.  That he did not devote more pages or words to these topics probably had more to do with the fact that this is a survey, and not an explanation.

Davies has sufficient credentials and academic recognition to give "Europe" credibility.  He holds a handful of academic positions, perhaps most notably with Jagiellonian University in Krakow (where he is UNESCO Professor).

I'd recommend the hardcover to any reader truly interested in this topic or book.  It takes long enough to read that even that edition suffered the wear, tear, and insults of daily handlines.  It is also a valuable reference which many will want to add to their shelves.

It is hard to say if there is any particular thesis which you will take away from this reading.  One perhaps is that the eventual political unification of "Europe" is inevitable, though not likely to be easily attained.  Other lessons which may be demonstrated are those we already know: to the victor go the spoils, as well as the privilege of writing their history.

Good luck with this.  Just pace yourself, and keep at it.  You CAN finish this book.
2256877
This book did a good job of condensing 3000 years of Jewish history into one volume. The author's style is generally engrossing, and not tedious. At times, the author presents multiple points of view and possibilities regarding different historical situations. However, and this is very important, the author's personal bias dominates his account too many times. (He was a Jewish historian writing from the 1930s-60s...) He glosses over or ignores any possibility of Jewish blame or wrong-doing in all historical situations, and is a complete apologist for the Zionist cause. His occasionally naive and outdated approach is best exemplified in page 413, where he describes the pre-WWII Jewish colony in Palestine as "green, tidy, productive, the labourers... singing at their work," and then compares it to the next-door "miserable, squalid, dirty Arab village, ignorance the rule, discouragement the climate." Therefore, this book is not recommended for the young or the gullible. If you can read it critically, with a grain of salt at times, it is a worthwhile read and summary of Jewish history.
3416962
This is a quick, almost breezy review of a subject that could obviously be much more fleshed out. I have never enountered a history book that so often essentially admits to not knowing anything about certain issues that pertain to the narrative. On the good side, the book is easy to read and does give a very high overview of the issue. It is not overly long so the time commitment is minimal. Overal, not a bad book just not very good.
3560738
A decent read for its historical anecdotes.  Ghaemi's theory: that mental instability is a leadership asset in times of crisis is very plausible.  His treatment of this theory, however, leaves a fair amount lacking.  Quite simply, despite overtly eschewing psychohistory, he engages in it wholesale as he reads host theory into history, bending history to his theory when necessary.
2483197
A good summary of all that went on at the Fed and Treasury during the great crisis, in typical, easily-understood Wessel style. Unfortunately, it is a Wessel book - written by a journalist, who perhaps rightly stops at a recitation of the facts without delving into the context. For instance, if what passed before was a "credit bubble" with loans going to non-creditworthy activities, why the big rush to return the credit markets to their inflated state?  Overall, worth reading for the facts, but you will need to go elsewhere for more information to draw your own conclusions.
698882
Dr. Obadele Starks chose an important and (suprisingly) neglected topic for this book and it is well-researched.  However, it suffers from two things: 1) an overly-academic tone, 2) choppy organization, and 3) too much anecdotal evidence which dilutes some of his arguments and/or makes them trivial or unconvincing.

The book does do a great job of explaining the "what": that despite the passing of the Abolition Ac of 1808, the foreign slave trade continued to thrive in the United States.  Except for pointing to greed due to the large amounts of money to be made in the trade, and the corruption concommitant to that greed, he never fully explains *why* efforts to stopping the trade were unsuccessful.

As a good one-third o one-half of the book deals with the foreign slave trade in Texas, and half or more concerns the Gulf Coast, I'd recommend Randolph Campbell's "An Empire for Slavery" as a better source.

The book is at its best when discussing the (to me, anyway) surprising fact that New York and New England continued to be a center of the illegal foeign slave trade due to the surreptitious outfitting of whalers into slave ships.  The last chapter, indeed the last section - on the conviction and execution of Captain Nathaniel Gordon for illegal slave trading - was excellent; likewise his very brief discussion of William Powell's abolitionist activities in New York  was very good; had the whole book been written this way I'd happily give it 4 or even 5 stars.

Unfortunately, the better part of the book consists of paragraphs with a thesis sentence, a couple more sentences of explanation, and then a catalog of anecdotal evidence from his research that is somehow supposed to support his point but often trivializes it or does not satisfactorily support the argument; in other cases, he admits other explanations and "abandons" the argument he just tried to make.  It makesa for hefty back matter with copious endnotes and bibliography, but not necessarily good history.

I'm indebted to the good professor for making otherwise hard-to-find research accessible and especially for inspiring me to further pursue some of the interesting thread noted above (i.e., Gordon and Powell) but I think an opportunity for a more readable expose of the continued foreign slave trade in America still exists.

Perhaps "Hanging Captain Gordon: The Life and Trial of an American Slave Trader" by Ron Soodalter will satisfy mu curiosity.
821119
Sir Stenton has composed a masterpiece of a history text in his most famous book. A caveat, however, in that the text itself was written by someone who was a professional historian. As such, the text is as dry as you would expect. It is, perhaps, the most comprehensive text on the subject available to the open market, but while it is very name, date, and place intensive, there is little in the way of anecdotal information that might interest the merely casual reader. For someone who is interest in more an introduction than an indepth analysis, I would recommend The Anglo-Saxons, edited by James Campbell.
2503551
The history was interesting, but not as broad I had hoped. The commentary on the historical vignettes seemed to try to tone down tragedy of the history. It is an interesting and easy read. I would try to borrow it before buying it.
382467
Good points, but perhaps a little simplistic.  I would have rather read more about Manby's biography than this particular literature.
1487554
Like the Dummies and Idiot's series, this is at best an overview of Jewish history. While it has to lack the width and depth of Salo Baron's magnus opus on the Social and Economic History of the Jews and lacks the scholarship of Margolis and Marx's History of the Jews it does a good job of giving what can be described as a "bird's eye view".

To test it out I used the section on the Maimonidean controversy. It gave a map of what happened and where and this was somewhat useful. It was also somewhat confusing for those not into the intracacies of the arguments both for and against the thirteen principles of faith- what was lacking most how they ended up entering Jewish liturgy either as the Yigdal or the haunting liturgical hymn "ani ma'amim".
2768384
The guerilla warfare along the Kansas-Missouri boarder brought forth some of the bloodiest incidents of the Civil War.  Unlike many of the larger battles between Union and Confederate forces (where armies were pitted against armies) the conflict between Northern Jayhawkers and pro-South Bushwhackers moved beyond military actions and brought the war to innumerable civilians.  Both sides burned and pillaged the region, causing massive financial loss and an untold loss of life.

Goodrich does an adequate job broadly describing the Boarder Wars of 1861-1865.  His use of primary sources, i.e. diaries, newspaper accounts and correspondence brings an interesting look into the lives of those who lived through those bloody years.  However, I found Goodrich's narrative lacking and the depth of his book to be quite shallow.

Although briefly touching on the more notable incidents of the war, i.e. the Lawrence Raid, Ewing's General Order No. 11  and others, he fails to thoroughly examine the events with a keen enough eye.  The same can be said for his description of pertinent actors.  Although remaining objective and granting fair coverage to both sides, he fails to truly explain the motives behind much of the guerilla leadership and their role in the conflict.

Little new was provided by Goodrich that has not been thoroughly fleshed out by other authors.  I would recommend "The Devil Knows How to Ride..." by Edward E. Leslie.  All though concentrating on William Quantrill, Leslie's work provides a much greater study of the guerilla wars than Goodrich.
4253876
The book serves more as a study guide than a complete history. Centering around Greco-Roman history, the book provides detailed background research into the roles of Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Etruscans, Celts, Persians and Jews. It blurs lines between myth and history from the founding of Rome by Aeneas and Romulus. The authors suggest that the Romans invented their own mythological past by linking themselves to the Trojan War of Greek myth, although it's not clear why Roman patriot historians would have wanted to associate with the losers of a war.

In their introduction Price and Thonemann state three avenues of inquiry. The first is "memory," or how civilizations remembered their own pasts, whether real or invented. The second is communal identity, or how various groups saw themselves as a distinct whole apart from other peoples. Finally, there is a look at the geographic dimensions of western history.
Civilized history began in the Mid East. The Persian Wars and their aftermath brought Europe into the picture. Then occurred the rise of Rome through its slow expansion in Italy, Republican government and conquests followed by the Empire, decay and Christianization. Towards its end the book makes a study of the rise of Christianity as it became associated with the Roman empire and its decline.  The book is researched with archeological data and original texts. There is diversion to sociology history, art and especially religion. The authors do a great job with integration of color plates involving art, architecture and geography into the text. The work also contains maps, photographs, a chronology, and suggestions for further reading. The chronology is very sparse, a sort of fill in the blanks exercise.
3722934
"The Lost History of Christianity:  A Thousand Year Golden Age" covers a period of history largely forgotten --  namely the rise and fall of Christianity outside of Europe and the Americas.

The author, Phillip Jenkins, reminds us that for hundreds of years, after Christ, Christianity spread East as well as West and that the Chrsitain faith in the East developed different customs, and rituals than in the West.

For a signficant period, after Islam spread through the region, the Eastern faith and Islam coexisted.  However, over time, sometimes violently, but more often, in measured ways, Islam displaced Chrsitianity.  With objectivity and balance, Jenkins provides us the details of that displacement.

While Jenkins clearly mourns the loss of Christian in the East, he has no "agenda" except to tell the story accuartely.  He imparts the reader with knowledge and information, that few, except  scholars, would already know.  However, only ocassionally, is he too scholarly for the general reader.

Besides the ocassional dip into scholarly discourse, my only other significant complaint is the subtitle.  Much of the book does describe Christainity in the East for the first thousand years after Chist,  but Jenkins provides material, including, some modern references, beyond that timeperiod.  Properly speaking, the subttitle accuartely describes only about two-thirds of the text.

Still, these flaws aside, whether you are an armchair historian or a Christian looking for greater understanding of the history of your faith, or both, The Lost History is a worthy and important read.
2140434
Schama is a competent scholar with an accessible and fluid writing style, and the book is a relative breeze to read. The illustrations are copious, relevant and useful to understanding much of the text. The book's biggest drawback is that it is a seriously erratic overview of British history. Actually, I should say English history, because you'll find very, very little discussion of Wales (or Scotland for that matter) - except inasmuch as it affects England.

That in itself is a failing (at least of the title), but Schama plays serious favorites when it comes to picking and choosing what parts of English history to cover. You'll find, for example, multiple pages detailing the drama between Becket and Henry II, but the Wars of the Roses is totally skipped. Instead we get a brief overview of the reign of Henry VI, a few throwaway sentences lamenting how complex the Wars are, and then we've moved on the next monarch - without so much as a paragraph to summarize key points. There seems to be little rhyme or reason to what Schama focuses on and what he omits, and the result is a seriously irregular survey of English history. Further, despite its claim to cover a whopping four millennia of time, nearly a quarter of the book is spent on the reigns of the Tudors alone.

I'm left ultimately confused as to whom Schama's target audience is. History buffs will already be familiar with nearly all of the SparkNotes version of English history that Schama presents, while newcomers to this corner of the past will be left with critical gaps in their learning. This might be a useful book for someone with more than a passing familiarity with English history who is looking to refresh their memory with a quick survey, but otherwise I would steer clear of this well-written but not particularly pragmatic work.
4923546
McDougall's "Throes of Democracy" is a good introduction to the period of American history commencing with the inauguration of Andrew Jackson and ending with the final year of Reconstruction.  It may have its flaws (discussed further below) but overall I think this work earns three stars.  McDougall offers some very interesting insights into the mindset of the most noted Americans figures of the day and the American populace in general.  He attempts to survey the gamut of forces and ideas that influenced American society and Americans in general before the Civil War and performs this task admirably well in certain respects.  His writing style is also quite enjoyable and I found the book entertaining and a pleasure to read.

However, I have two major problems with the work.  First, McDougall did not make use enough of the extensive primary sources available from the period, an incomprehensible lapse for someone who teaches history as a profession.  It's one thing to cite to secondary sources to describe the historiography and impressions left to later generations of a period, person, or event, but to rely on secondary sources to document events, trends, etc. as extensively as done here can and does undermine the work's credibility.  Second, while McDougall provides in depth coverage of many of the religious, philosophical, social, intellectual and educational movements of the day, he provides almost no real discussion of the single greatest constitutional and political question of the day:  the relationship of the states to the Federal government and whether any state had the power to voluntarily secede from the Union.  This was the central question of the Civil War and the issue for which both sides fought in that conflict.  Additionally, the state of slavery as it existed in this period and its role in the US national economy receives less than its full due in this work.  While McDougall does describe the state of the slavery debate and attempts to plumb the depths of the peculiar institution, the attitudes of the far too many Americans are not explored as well as they could have been.  This is a bit of a surprise given that the single greatest social/economic issue of the day - the one driving the debate on the constitutional question of federalism and states' rights - was slavery.  That said, McDougall admirably details how the different sides of the slavery debate spent much energy and time avoiding any real resolution to the debate until the force of events placed them in a political situation that required a final and bloody resolution to the great questions of federalism and slavery.