Customer Reviews

A History of the Ancient World

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book offers an oversight to the basic developments in history: from the first appearances of human life, then culture, and then cities and societies. It gives an occasional glance to the east, but it's emphasis is tracing the development of Greek and Roman civilization. It is useful in its broadness, but potentially misleading by the same token. For the general reader, I would say Starr offers a decent rough comparison between different societies and epochs; thus enabling some concept of what made the Romans, the Greeks, etc different from the rest of the world.

Having been a graduate student in history, I must say that this book is a major relief. In Chester Starr, one will not find a paranoid historian, obsessed with political correctness and bent on thrashing Western history. He gives the Greeks and the Romans fair praise and criticism while not neglecting that these societies did not represent all people's of the earth. (Although, he suggests that the Greeks were devoid of superstition and the belief in magic, which I find hard to believe.) Global history is such a politically heated argument these days, that I would recomend Starr as the most qualified and balanced scholar for the average reader. Today, Starr is branded as Whigish and probably Eurocentrist, which is a shame for our intellectual conditions.

For the casual history fan, like myself, this was the perfect one-volume history of the ancient world. It is a comprehensive look at the various civilizations that rose and fell from the Sumerians to the Romans. Starr gives you the big picture and puts the contributions of the ancient world in perspective.

It is written in a clear and concise prose style. There is just the right amount of attention to detail, but not so much as to make it tedious. It was enjoyable to read and I am happy to have this book in my library to keep for future reference for my children and myself.

Chester G. Starr's comprehensive volume of ancient history from the early achievements of man to the decline of the Roman Empire, is remarkable in scope, charming in its clarity, and as a whole, impressive; but it is not to be compared with the work of Will Durant. Like Durant, Starr focuses on the revolutions of history--which is the evolution of civilization--and completes his treatment of it in one 700-pg. volume. If we are to compare the span of time handled in Starr's work with that of Durant's renowned "Story of Civilization," then it may rightly be said that Durant took three-and-a-half volumes to cover the same period that Starr completed in one. This makes Starr's work more accessible to students looking for summaries, while Durant's is more appealing to accomplished readers, seeking more in-depth research upon their desired subject. Durant's always has a deeper feel for his subject and comments upon it with engaging philosophical insights, while Starr's narrative remains sketchy, and for the most part, humdrum. However, this does not take away from the fact that Starr's "A History of the Ancient World" is one of the most noble of its kind, for its consolidation of such a broad period has been seldom matched. The comparison with Will Durant is not to down play the worth of Starr's work; rather, it is to prove his worth, for every American historian looks to Durant as a source for inspiration, and as a model to attempt to emulate. It is an honor to be placed in the company with someone of the likes of Will Durant, much in the same way that every English historian is indebted to Edward Gibbon and Winston Churchill. His work is well worth its weight and renders itself as a carry-it-anywhere reference source for ancient history. The contents cover the Paleolithic and Neolithic times, to the early civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and the Indus Valley, Minoan, Assyrian, and Hebrew, into the classical times of the Greco-Roman world, all the way until the fall of Rome and the dawn of the Middle Ages. The work also holds an abundance of maps, charts, and pictures, which make reading it all the more entertaining and fulfilling. The sources are analyzed at the end of each chapter, along with detailed bibliographies entailed by suggested further reading. This book is recommended.

A very well-written text covering the beginning of history to the decline of Rome. Thorough and complete in its detail and explanations. Also, the text moves decisively and methodically through the early historical timeline.

Most people when faced with this book, especially college students, will find that it looks quite intimidating. However, very much to my surpise, it's a wonderful book. Starr covers a vast amount of time and history in this extreamlly informative book. It reads easy, presenting it's ideas clearly and streamlined. It really is a book to read if you have any intrest in the Ancient Civlizations.

This is an excellent, very well written book on the general history of the ancient world with a focus on the near east, Egypt, Greece and Western Europe.

Through his step-by-step build up the author is able to show not only the sequence of events, but the impacts that these had on religion, culture, art etc. In many instances he points to the roots of ideas that we absolutely take for granted today.

This book will be valuable to a reader with a general interest and also as a more detailed reference.

A sweeping history of our earliest civilizations, this book will not let you down. The book's only shortcoming that I have discovered is that it was written in 1965 and only partially revised since then. Each chapter has its own bibliography and notes on sources, and it is mostly in these that it shows its age.

This is a textbook. I look on that as a good thing because it means complete and balanced writing. You will find the social, military, material, and artistic details of each civilization sorted out and brought into meaningful relationships. Ideas are traced, and their spread through trade is explained.

I am very satisfied with my purchase.

Not a bad account of the ancient world altough i found it to be a little bit dry.The author makes good assesments as to why certain things and events happened the way they did.I especially liked the way he described the political problems of Rome before turning into an empire and i also like the way he studies and discusses Homer's Illiad.The only thing that i did not like was its dryness.sometimes the judgement of the author could be pretty harsf and too "straight".It made me think that sometimes the author was just telling us a very personal opinion or a conclusion.But again good book for someone interested in ancient history.

The newest, and last, edition of Chester G. Starr's "History of the Ancient World" is in keeping with its predecessors, two of which I've used as textbooks. Clear, readable prose, mastery of a complex and temporally expansive field, focus on the subject instead of contemporary agenda, and abundant direction for those interested in one or another specific topic within the wider field. I continue to be amazed at how much history Professor Starr is able to present without turning the topic into the list of names and dates which students often complain of, and how individual the cultures he treated become in his hands, rather like characters in the hands of a master novelist. Of most importance to both student and general reader, however, is the freedom of this work from contemporary fixations and agenda and its clear delight in the history which has produced the modern world; and, for that matter, has provided the politically correct and culturally diverse with the views and values on which they base their agenda.

This was an excellent book and what I had been looking for for a while. It neatly connects all the ancient civilizations together culiminating in the Roman Empire. It ties together the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, Greek and Roman civilizations and how they interrelated to each other. It's focus is mostly on the Greek and Roman as they were the precursors of later Europe. It also covers the other influential civilizations such as Phoenician, Minoan, Etruscan, Parthian, and Macedonian. Among others I found most informative the sections on the causes of Alexander's rise and conquests, the historical background of the formation of Christianity, and the Phoenician, Greek, Carthaginian and Estrucan involvement in the formation of Rome.

If you want to know how the early civilizations developed up through Rome, this is the book to read. The book is about 700 pages with a good bibliography for other readings. It is easy reading and only bogs down somewaht when it goes a little too deeply into the culture and arts of certain periods.

If you want to know more about why Rome fell and what happened afterwards, read the two Excellent "Fall of Rome" Books by Peter Heather.