Klik op een omslag om naar Google Boeken te gaan.
Bezig met laden... De Middellandse Zee een geschiedenis (2006)door John Julius Norwich
Geen Bezig met laden...
Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. I remember loving John Julius Norwich's books about Byzantium as a teenager: big, sweeping epic histories with lots of drama and adventure and some slyly funny asides. Reading The Middle Sea told me that I can never go back and re-read them because I would find them far more tarnished works than they are in my memory. Now, with many more years and training behind me, I can see how shallow are the foundations on which Norwich builds his narrative: the assumptions and generalisations (often gendered, almost always racialised), the thin bibliography, the Eurocentrism, and on and on. Norwich's prose is still pleasurable and there is something of the raconteur here that's appealing. But to the old saw about how you should never meet your heroes should perhaps be added one about never going back to re-read their work, either. ( ) By its nature this must be a survey book, quite useful for its maps [there's a good one of Gibraltar] and its family trees. The Bibliography is useful if you want to delve more deeply. Norwich is also up to his usual standard of epigramry and the torturous history of Greece from the Napoleonic period is worth the price of admission. There is, of course a better book for each of the chapters, but it provides a good framework for the other barnacles of knowledge to attach themselves. Definitely a readable book, but not the final word on much. **start date is approximate** So this was a very long read, but it was entirely enjoyable. This book was a very hefty book, going between wars, marriages, deals, deaths, the list goes on. I really enjoyed and appreciated, however, how much time and effort Norwich put into the book — it really shows in how detailed everything was — since focusing on the history of a sea basically focuses on the histories of all the countries surrounding that sea. Norwich deftly takes the reader through these histories, focusing mainly on countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, and only bringing in countries that didn’t border the Middle Sea when it was absolutely necessary and vital to understanding the material. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
Onderdeel van de reeks(en)The Middle Sea (1-2)
A one-volume narrative history of the Mediterranean from Ancient Egypt to 1919. Written in the racy, readable prose for which author Norwich is famous, this is colorful, character-driven history. He tackles a vast subject--vast in time, from the oldest surviving pyramid to the First World War; vast in geography, from Gibraltar to Jerusalem; and vast in culture, including as it does the civilizations of the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, Greece, Carthage, Rome and Byzantium, the Borgias and the Medicis, Muhammad and El Cid, Napoleon and Nelson, Moslems, Jews and Christians. This book is not a dry record of facts; it is a rackety read about historical figures--dissolute popes and wily emperors, noble-hearted generals and beautiful princesses. Towns are besieged and sacked, kingdoms won and lost. The narrative covers the glories of Constantinople and Venice, and the stirring history of the islands of Malta, Sicily, Crete and Cyprus.--From publisher description. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
Actuele discussiesGeenPopulaire omslagen
Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)909.09822History and Geography History World history Other Geographic Classifications Other Classifications Ocean And Sea Basins MediterraneanLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
Ben jij dit?Word een LibraryThing Auteur. |