This is a grand overview of the Mediterranean. While John Norwich admits to disliking the Paleolithic etc times for lack of information leading me to seek such in other fine histories. What makes this 5 star reading is the masterful, well researched and highly entertaining storytelling of history. I slow myself down, like a good meal, to fully immerse myself in a different - yet our- world. What a great break from the evening news! It could change your view about the impact this somewhat miraculous sea has on us, now and in the past.

Long history of the Mediterranean sea,

The book was expensive but never mind because for a good book the prize is irrelevant. So i started with optimism but after reading about 230 pages i stopped because of the anger the book caused.
Let me give a few examples :
Page 8 :Ww1 made ww2 unavoidable...
Page60: Jesus Christ was the founder of the christian religion...
Page 73 : Atilla was feared all over history and only Napoleon was feared more.......
And so i can go on. The most hilarious was :
Page 227 : There the author writes about the Templars that sodomy caused the birth of illegal children....
I read some reviews and the all were very positive....BS

Grande affresco storico

2020年10月26日借阅于校图。

An excellent book, that uncovers the tragic dramas that once floated on the surface and are now hidden below it.

I'm not sure how to rate this. It's very interesting - the history of the Mediterranean makes for great reading - and well systematised, but it's also quite frivolous with historical facts in places, and what's worse, it has ringing imperalistic tones, especially when it comes to the Greeks and Egyptians. At places it was downright unpleasant to read.

One of the best historians. A beautifully written overview of the history of the meditteranean in the dark and early middle ages. Written in the style of a gossipy diplomat who knows where all the bodies are buried. Very entertaining and yet gives a great sense of the huge changes taking place in this area in a crucial period.

JJN's execution falls somewhat short of his promise, with several swathes of the Mediterranean coastline given brief coverage - or none at all - compared to others. The authorial decision to embark on "historical dilation" by providing more and more detail with each passing century creates frustration on both sides of the sweet-spot. Moreover, JJN proudly crafts his prose from an Englishman's partisan chair, which manifests, over time, as pro-euro, pro-Western, then pro-Anglo bias. The culmination of these three faults results in, for example, a dozen (nearly) one-sided pages spent on the debacle of Gallipoli, while centuries of Egyptian history lay untouched.

Though marred by the above, "The Middle Sea" remains an ambitious, accessible, and engaging introduction to Mediterranean history, and well worth reading for those not already versed in the topic.

Other notes:
- Several passages are apparently taken from singular sources; at least JJN notes where he does this.
- The book is helpfully organized with "main topics" labelled across the top of each even page.

Gli do 4 stelle per l'interesse del libro e per il piacevole piglio narrativo. Ci sono parti ben note soprattutto a chi ha studiato la storia si libri italiane, e parti molto meno note, per dire la presa turca di Creta o l'assedio di Gibilterra. Purtroppo ci sono alcuni errori materiali sui fatti. Ovviamente , visto dall'Inghilterra il Mediterraneo è esotico e ci son spesso richiami alla storia inglese.
Interessante anche la parte sull'Italia, ci sono dettagli sul Risorgimento che non conoscevo. la querela di Mazzini sulla censura inglese che, su richiesta di Vienna, gli leggeva le lettere. Vinse e si fece pubblicità

الكتاب طويل وغني بالتفاصيل،لكن أغلبها غير مهم،يغلب عليه السرد ويندر التحليل والشرح،كما أن تركيزه على التاريخ السياسي والحربي أكثر من الأجتماعي والديني والفني... شخصياً عجزت عن أكمال أخر مائتي صفحة فيه.

真是一团乱麻啊！改天找几本年鉴学派的书翻翻。