Customer Reviews

100 Battles That Shaped World History

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is an interesting, useful, brief book that describes 100 battles which have shaped world history, according to its author, who teaches history at Mt. Holyoke Community College in Massachusetts. The book begins with the battle of Kadesh in 1294 BC and ends with the battle of Kuwait (better known as the Gulf War) in 1991. Each battle is described in one page, with sufficient detail to understand how the battles were waged and the importance of outcomes. The book's broad sweep of battles across the ages is its primary value to persons who wonder about how events of the past have shaped modern social structures.

One can quibble with the author's selection of the 100 battles that form the narrative of his book. Too much attention is given to European battles and too little mention is made of major battles in Asia. For example, it's hard to justify no mention of the war in China between the People's Liberation Army and nationalist forces, given the economic and political importance of China today. But any book of this nature will always draw some criticism because of the subjective selection of battles or events that are described.

This book is recommended for readers who appreciate world history and want a quick, handy resource about major battles that have occurred over the ages.

In the writers attempt to get 100 battles in, he has forgotten to justify why he chose the way he did. Although it is easy to see how most of the battles chosen were on the list there are several examples of questionable choices. The author also writes down to the reader. Most of the book is written at a fifth grade level and is not enjoyable for a true historian.

I usually read bestseller war novels like "Cold Mountain" or "The Triumph and the Glory" to satisfy my interest in military history, because nonfiction is generally pretty boring. But "100 Battles That Shaped World History" was fascinating, well worth looking into, and a great source of info for military history buffs.

Some battles were left out but it wasnt BAD. Has some battles that really didnt shape history. Writen in about 7 grade level.

This is a really splendid book that I bought about two years ago, and which my two boys still take out to re-read. Each battle is presented in a way that teaches a chunk of world history -- who was fighting, why, and who led them. First rate!

The author tried to do listing of wars for 3rd Grade level. In other words he worked more in placing a picture for every war.

It is a very good book on most of the battles! But it left out a few battles that shaped world history!

u guys must have written a great book and u must be feeling happy now after hurting the sentiments of muslims by getting a picture of the prophet. this shows u are working against ur own religion because by hurting other religions u are forcing the followers of that religion to feel that it is a case of religious importance and inturn u are giving a chance to get ur religion hurt by their counter efforts. so next time be careful in choosing a theme of the book....... thanks for spending time to read my review.... this is especially for the authors of the book........

This book has been very successful in alienating and deeply hurt millions of muslims around the world. Just by putting a "picture" of the The prophet of God the author has proven his incompetence. How can the author just randomly select a picture and use it for such a great personality. This is utterly blasphemous. How can such a book even get past a review done by a person with a positive value for common sense? The only decent thing that the author and the publishers of this book can do apologize and remove the picture from the book.