PositiveLibrary JournalThe style is energetic yet informative ... A nail-biting account of state crimes and secrets, real world action pitting spy versus spy and diplomat versus diplomat.
David K Randall
RaveLibrary JournalRandall successfully writes the human story behind the discovery of dinosaurs; a book that will delight readers of science and history.
Riley Black
PositiveLibrary JournalBlack combines science information with beautiful prose, providing snapshots of various dinosaurs just before, during, and after the asteroid impact ... Black offers a compelling look at the final days of dinosaurs and the aftereffects of the asteroid impact ... A real-life, natural history page-turning drama that is necessary reading for almost anyone interested in the history of life.
Jennifer Raff
RaveLibrary JournalRaff discusses complex issues but explains concepts in easy-to-understand text ... A thorough yet conversational outlining of the peopling of the Americas that will update any anthropology or world history collection.
Mark Mazower
PositiveLibrary Journal... a detailed examination of the Greek quest for independence from the Ottoman Empire during the first portion of the 19th century ... Mazower discusses complex social issues...[and] delves into the complicated politics of the latter Ottoman Empire and its own frictions. His writing is detailed and scholarly throughout ... Mazower contextualizes a major transformation in 19th-century Eastern Europe for readers of European history and provides a solid background of modern Greece for students of ancient history.
Kyle T. Mays
PositiveLibrary JournalMays...fills a much-needed void in the interpretation of U.S. history ... The complicated relationships between Black people and Indigenous people in the Southern United States are also carefully examined ... this work presents an Indigenous voice in the interpretation of U.S. history that is highly relevant to current discourse on the country\'s history and present society; it will likely be much sought-after in college classrooms.
David Rooney
PositiveLibrary JournalReaders will appreciate Rooney’s history of timekeeping, from ancient sundials, to the water clocks of imperial China, to medieval hourglasses and mechanical clocks, to the Greenwich Royal Observatory. This book discusses timekeeping in terms of scientific innovation, artistry, and political power ... An interesting book for world history readers, especially those interested in the history of science or art.
Edward Slingerland
RaveLibrary JournalThere is serious anthropology here, including the tantalizing theory that beer, not bread, was the stimulus for the agricultural revolution. Slingerland’s informal, conversational style weaves modern scientific studies with ancient mythology ... An illuminating yet conversational study that takes an anthropological approach to a widespread and often puzzling human behavior.
Johannes Krause and Thomas Trappe tr. Caroline Waight
RaveLibrary Journal... splendid ... The book’s scope is immense ... Readers will find new information, such as the occurrence of plague in Stone Age societies. Krause has firsthand knowledge of this evidence, having performed some of the leading laboratory research in the genetics of human prehistory. Co-author Trappe uses easily understandable language to describe subjects that might otherwise be overly technical or scientific. What makes this book unique among other world histories is its focus on evidence newly acquired from DNA matter, which provides new avenues of understanding the human past ... Scientific yet accessible, this original book offers much insight to readers of European history.
Simon Winchester
PositiveLibrary JournalWinchester\'s large audience will enjoy this well-worded, interdisciplinary look into the relationship between humans and the land.
Ben Wilson
PositiveLibrary JournalInformation rich and accessible. For history and public policy readers seeking a global vision of the impact of world cities.
Thomas E. Ricks
RaveLibrary JournalRicks does something quite remarkable: he takes a seemingly academic topic—the Greco-Roman education of the Founding Fathers—and makes it resonate with grand relevance ... The education of the Founders, so often relegated to a sentence or two, is the theme of this book, which makes it unique among the plethora of works on them ... The author comments on current politics in the beginning and end of the work, which, on the one hand, apply to classical principles discussed within, but on the other may date this edition in a few years ... Offering a look at the Founders rarely glimpsed, Ricks successfully argues that America needs to rediscover its classical roots.
Peter Cozzens
RaveLibrary JournalTecumenseh\'s life and wider struggle for the Great Lakes and Ohio River valley now has a current, solid work by an accomplished author.
Hugh Raffles
RaveLibrary JournalA work of poetic science, a smashing together of the human and the natural world, of cultures separated by time. Just as a geologic unconformity, this is erudite and artistic.
Robert P. Jones
PositiveLibrary Journal... wide-ranging work ... Though the scope of the book is far-reaching, survey data are presented throughout, showing differences on racial issues between white and black Christians. Especially illustrative is a chart tabulating the number of Confederate statutes erected in each decade ... Jones provides hard figures and historical examples illustrating racial relations in the United States, and how people can work toward reconciliation.
Alan Mikhail
RaveLibrary JournalReaders gain insight into the incredible influence of the Ottoman civilization at the dawn of modern history. But Mikhail goes even further, placing Ottoman civilization in its global context. He shows that it is no accident that Columbus’s 1492 voyage coincides with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, or that Martin Luther could use the Sultan’s long shadow as fuel against the Pope. Global economics and politics are well illuminated, as are the connections and relationships between Eurasia and the Americas. Excellent maps and illustrations throughout detail the cities, societies, and cultural regions in circa 1500 ... A wonderful, exciting, engaging, scholarly yet accessible work for all readers of world history, a book that addresses a critical but often overlooked axis of global history.
Sarah Churchwell
PositiveLibrary JournalChurchwell, a scholar of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his era, reveals the nationalism and nativism that flourished during the first decades of the 20th century. The rise of the Ku Klux Klan and American fascist parties during the 1920s and 1930s is particularly chilling. Readers will discover that nativists and social democrats have dueled against one another through long stretches of the 20th century. Many will learn that Trump-era \'America First\' concepts have deep roots ... Highly relevant to current U.S. politics, this is a great read for those seeking a scholarly examination of the origin and evolution of common and oft-cited American ideals.
