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dreamingandendless's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
The actual contents of the book are quite informative and enjoyable. The author does have a tendency to connect his own worldview to the history of Mesopotamia, which is the main reason for the lower score.
wordsfromvictoria's review against another edition
3.0
A rather idiosyncratic text that falls squarely into the popular history camp. Kriwaczek is keen to draw (anachronistic) parallels between us and ancient Mesopotamians in an attempt to bring them to life. at times, it feels that the comparisons are a little stretched. Much of what we know about these civilizations is from their material culture; which can only tell us so much. (The spade never lies but only because it cannot speak). The vast majority of cuneiform tablets have not even been translated and there have been some serious disputes over the correct translations of ones that have been. For example, whether a court verdict led to a woman being executed or completely exonerated. That is some ambiguity. Also, as cuneiform fell out of fashion, materials less durable than clay tablets were used for writing, and these have decayed out of existence, leaving large gaps in the later historical record. There is a lot of guesswork and supposition on the part of the author, which is never satisfactorily backed up by evidence or research to support his conclusions.
Having said that, one particularly interesting nugget of information that this book revealed was that ancient Mesopotamia had a very sophisticated debt system and what appears to be proto commodities futures. There would also be on occasion debt crises. Plus ca change!
Not a terrible book, but hardly a serious historical work either.
Having said that, one particularly interesting nugget of information that this book revealed was that ancient Mesopotamia had a very sophisticated debt system and what appears to be proto commodities futures. There would also be on occasion debt crises. Plus ca change!
Not a terrible book, but hardly a serious historical work either.
dashspandan's review against another edition
This isn't how history should be written.
noel_rene_cisneros's review against another edition
La historia del origen de la civilización entre el Eufrates y el Tigris. Kriwaczek sigue a algunos historiadores y arqueólogos que plantean que un factor decisivo en el establecimiento de los centros urbanos fue el desarrollo del pensamiento religioso, que antes del sedentarismo estuvieron los sitios de culto (y que las primeras ciudades lo fueron porque antes fueron sitios de culto). Kriwaczek sigue sigue la historia de las civilizaciones masopotámicas desde el V milenio hasta que la región fue absorbida por el imperio persa, aunque, dice, es posible ver su continuidad en el imperio romano de oriente (en la opulencia de los emperadores bizantinos) on incluso en el imperio otomano. Resalta cómo la historia reciente no está desvinculada de la antigüedad y la destrucción d eBagdad con la invasión norteamericana significó un atentado a la historia milenaria de la región.