Rating: 
Summary: Big book-big resource
Review: This book expands the basic Western definition of the ancient world beyond the confines of Greece and Rome. But why only Egypt? The entire Near East is missing. Unlike other "ancient history" introductory textbooks, however, Freeman is able to provide more information by focusing onto three civilizations which interacted a great deal beginning in the fifth century BCE at least.
Rating:
Summary: good summary and introduction
Review: This book expands the basic Western definition of the ancient world beyond the confines of Greece and Rome. But why only Egypt? The entire Near East is missing. Unlike other "ancient history" introductory textbooks, however, Freeman is able to provide more information by focusing onto three civilizations which interacted a great deal beginning in the fifth century BCE at least.
Rating: 
Summary: Worlds in transition
Review: This history is very useful to see both ancient Egypt and the Classical tradition separately and in tandem, making a fine study of the bridge between civilizations. Like acorns under a great oak tree, Greece and Rome resolve their beginnings in the field spawned by Egypt. This is a very usefully done work with excellent references and makes a good tool for the branching out into more specialized areas, without losing a picture of the whole.
Rating:
Summary: Worlds in transition
Review: This history is very useful to see both ancient Egypt and the Classical tradition separately and in tandem, making a fine study of the bridge between civilizations. Like acorns under a great oak tree, Greece and Rome resolve their beginnings in the field spawned by Egypt. This is a very usefully done work with excellent references and makes a good tool for the branching out into more specialized areas, without losing a picture of the whole.
Rating:
Summary: Superb history
Review: This is a great book to get an integrated view of the ancient world. I looked at many different books before reading this one, having previously devoured a number of more specialized books about the ancient world over the years, but wanting something more in the way of an overall perspective and context. This book is great for that.I was mainly interested in the sections covering pre-Classical Period Greece, from 1500 down to the Golden Age (about 500 BC), but the other areas of coverage are superb also. Freeman also has an especially nice touch and fluency with the Greek history, and I wasn't surprised to find a separate book on Greek history by him next to this one on the bookshelf. There were also several gaps in my historical knowledge that this book plugged. For example, his section on the Etruscans, which I only had very fragmentary and superficial knowledge of, was also excellent. The book benefits from much recent scholarship, and the author points out in the introduction that one of the main differences between a modern book on ancient history and older ones is the degree to which ancient civilizations like Greece can be placed much more securely in the context of their times, showing them not as isolated cultural entities, but as arising from the interplay of much more cosmopolitan influences as they interacted with, and were influenced by, their contacts, peaceable or otherwise, with neighboring or competing cultures. This is another one of the great scholarly strengths of the book. I also found the author's deft touch and writing style a big plus, and although by necessity this is not a short book, it rarely got tedious or boring. That is notable by itself in a work of this size and nature. Overall, it counts as the best overall book on the history of the ancient world, and one of the most consistently interesting history books, I've ever read.
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