Customer Reviews

The Persian Empire (World History Series)

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Please take care - this is a book aimed at schools and libraries and the information is often abbreviated to serve the needs of pupils writing assignments. It is not really a book suitable for the interested reader who is building up a personal library at home.

Having said that, I must admit the overall scope of the book is excellent. It presents a well-balanced view on ancient Persia and it shows understanding of ancient Persian culture. (Nardo does not fall into the trap of being misguided by the abundance of anti-Persian propaganda in our Greek sources.) Every now and then the book presents a nice quote or a nice detail which is complementary to other more elaborate books - but in general there is little that warrants your interest in the long run.

One warning should be given regarding the illustrations. Many of them are drawings - impressions of ancient Persia by modern artists. Whether they will provide you with a vivid or accurate picture of ancient Persia, is doubtful at least. Images of genuine Persian art (or photographs of remaining monuments) are few - which is a great pity.

If you already possess some works on ancient history or ancient Persia in specific, this book will be a dissapointment. If you really need only just one, short, reliable overview of ancient Persia, you might want to have a go at it.

Don nardo is perhaps the best historian of ancient cultures writing for students with no previous background in this area. Like his other books about the ancient world, this one is clear, concise, lively, and filled with interesting facts and anecdotes. Those who already know the basics will want to move on to more scholarly volumes. But this is a good starter course on the subject.

This is an extremely informative volume even though it is aimed at young people. The author presents an excellent synopsis of the subject and treats the Persians fairly, without the usual Western bias seen in so many other books about this ancient realm, pointing out both the strengths and weaknesses of its people and institutions.

This book is extremely well done and loaded with information. It is not intended for scholars or serious students of ancient Persian culture. Instead, it is meant to be a general introduction to the topic for junior high and high school students, and as such it is highly effective.

I have read the Persian translation of this book by Mr. Saghebfar and I just want to thank the author for not blindly repeating the Eurcenterism statements against Persia. Mr. Nardo set himself as an example for other authors who want to write a true unbiased book on history of a foreign country. I especially liked the fact that this book is intended for younger generation which still read the same craps about the world history in their schools.

This has to be the best non-scholarly overview of ancient Persia available! It starts out with an excellent introduction in which the author points out how the Persians are usualy depicted as villains in movies and other western media, which tend to favor the ancient Greeks, who often fight with the Persians. The author then says that this is an unfair stereotype because the Persians had their own point of view and proud history. Then the book goes into that history, covering the major kings and their campaigns and how they created the largest empire the world had known up to that time. There is also a chapter on ancient Persian society and culture. This is one of several excellent books I've read by the author, Don Nardo, who makes this era of the ancient Greeks, Persians, and Romans come alive. People of Iranian descent will find it especially rewarding because there is so little out there about their roots in Englsih for general readers.