The Mediterranean in History
This is a lushly illustrated, sweeping overview of the Mediterranean region by eight historians. Each writes about a specific period, but all describe the sea as the most important feature of the area, where the beguilingly varied cultures have lined the coasts, appearing and vanishing over the centuries, and have traded and warred with each other. Except for Egyptian civilization, self-contained and usually safe in the Nile Valley, the Mediterranean presented both danger and opportunity--the fact that the Romans were the only ones to ever unify it shows how susceptible it has been to shifts in power, especially naval power, which is presented as a history-making factor in every writer's essay, as is another historical constant: the geographical and climatic environment. Within these structures, the authors depict the daily workings of commerce and the conflicts of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, their observations always accentuated by photographs and drawings. A lovely production that will whet both eye and mind. REVWRCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved