A History of Civilizations

Rating:
Summary: A disappointment
Review: I was looking for a book that is not as detailed and complex in its description as that of a history atlas, but also one that is not as shallow and perfunctory in its survey as that of a textbook targeted at high school students. "A History of Civilizations" satisfied the above criteria but failed to evoke in me any sense of satisfaction after reading the book.

Instead of the usual way of simply chronicling events, Fernand Braudel decided to approach the subject matter from the perspectives of geography, history and significant periods in the evolution of the civilization. A pretty innovative approach, I thought. But in so doing, not only did he miss out on important details in the content, he fell short of conveying what meager ideas that he had left in a lucid and effective way. He assumed that the reader has sufficient background information and hence plunged right into the `deep end' of the subject matter. The already mind-boggling reading experience was worsened by the choppy, inadequate translation of the original French writing. The lack of illustration, annotations, maps/diagrams will contribute to the bewilderment, and not the enlightenment of the poor reader.

If you were to buy this book, just read Chapter 1 (a general review) and the chapters on Islam, Latin America, USA and Russia. The rest of the book is not worth your effort getting mired in the entanglement of information (or rather, lack of information and insights) and having to bash your way through. Furthermore, the book was written two decades ago, and hence the information presented is not up-to-date. Well, treat it as a `time capsule' of facts then.

Rating:
Summary: Great Intro to a Better Understanding of the World
Review: If you want a better understanding of how the world has come to be what it today is, then this book is a good first step in so doing. Braudel was an influential French historian specializing in the Mediterranean, so his insights into the evolution of Europe are more insightful than other regions he highlights (but he is insightful throughout). Excellent book to read while you bask in the sun with your feet dancing in Lake Michigan on a tourist beach (as I did). Maybe the atmosphere I had while reading made me enjoy it more; nonetheless, one should read this if they have any desire to.

Rating:
Summary: Great Intro to a Better Understanding of the World
Review: If you want a better understanding of how the world has come to be what it today is, then this book is a good first step in so doing. Braudel was an influential French historian specializing in the Mediterranean, so his insights into the evolution of Europe are more insightful than other regions he highlights (but he is insightful throughout). Excellent book to read while you bask in the sun with your feet dancing in Lake Michigan on a tourist beach (as I did). Maybe the atmosphere I had while reading made me enjoy it more; nonetheless, one should read this if they have any desire to.

Rating:
Summary: completely agree with the man below "GREAT" to "good"
Review: It was always going to be difficult to write a book about Civilizations. The decision tree alone of what information to include/exclude would be a significant problem.

Braudel's thesis is that religion, culture and geography, together with traditional tools of history are all important in understanding civilizations. This is a true and accurate perspective.

He concentrates on Nth America, Europe, Asia, Islam and Africa. His chapter on Islam, and the first civilization studied, was outstanding and certainly he was able to tie in his thesis to this examination. However, I got the impression he got lazy, and ended up providing cobbled sketches of the other civilizations, and concentrating more on history than analysis. Hence why Great to good.

Rating:
Summary: A Time Capsule
Review: This book attempts to give an overview of all the world civilizations. However this book is a little dated now. Originally this was published in the 1960's, so it reflects a Cold War era point of view. This especially comes through when he isn't talking about western cultures. For example, he expresses a fear that the Islamic cultures, due to the large number of desperate and poor people, would abandon their traditional religion, Islam, and take up the banner of Communism. Well, as we can see today, Islam will last a few thousand years longer than Communism. Also there are a few mistakes in this book. On a map showing the division of Spanish-speaking Latin America and Portuguese-speaking Latin America, countries such as Jamaica and Haiti are shown to be a part of Spanish-speaking Latin America.

It's not all bad though. The section on the development of Europe is excellent. Also this might be useful as a sort of time capsule. Those who are interested in a Cold War view of history would like this. If you're looking for the history of civilizations though, you should look for a more modern and complete source.

Rating:
Summary: A Time Capsule
Review: This book attempts to give an overview of all the world civilizations. However this book is a little dated now. Originally this was published in the 1960's, so it reflects a Cold War era point of view. This especially comes through when he isn't talking about western cultures. For example, he expresses a fear that the Islamic cultures, due to the large number of desperate and poor people, would abandon their traditional religion, Islam, and take up the banner of Communism. Well, as we can see today, Islam will last a few thousand years longer than Communism. Also there are a few mistakes in this book. On a map showing the division of Spanish-speaking Latin America and Portuguese-speaking Latin America, countries such as Jamaica and Haiti are shown to be a part of Spanish-speaking Latin America.

It's not all bad though. The section on the development of Europe is excellent. Also this might be useful as a sort of time capsule. Those who are interested in a Cold War view of history would like this. If you're looking for the history of civilizations though, you should look for a more modern and complete source.

Rating:
Summary: Grammaire des civilisations
Review: This book is extraordinary! Meant for French lycéens in their last year before sitting for their bac exam, it was a failure. However, looking at today's situation of the west vis-à-vis the Islamic and other non-western worlds, it is a jewel. Among other things, it explains the origin of today's conflicting attitudes. For example, why the Egyptians and other Mediterranean peoples become in overwhelming majority Moslems several centuries after the conquest by the Arabs.

Rating:
Summary: Very unbalanced
Review: This essay is a classical book from the 1960s, about the idea of civilization and the different ones that Braudel considered that were in existence. Some descriptions are brilliant, others not quite. But they all are a good introduction to some of them, unknown to us, like Islam or Black Africa.
He explains their history, their past and present. There're very surprising historical facts. For instance, about slavery and the enormous demographic tragedy that meant for Africa. Millions of men and women were captured and brought Westward to America and Eastward to Moslem countries (the Turkish Empire, Arabic peninsule) and he gives higher numbers in those sold as slaves to Moslem countries than those sent to America. Braudel considers that there are real alive Africas in America (in Brazil or the Caribbean islands) while no trace of those wretchs sent to Islamic lands can be found, as if swallowed up by the sands of hot desserts.
We know a lot about slavery towards America but very few about that bleeding towards Arabic countries, some of them still defend and practice slavery, for instance in the Arabic peninsule.
Those facts were the most touching for me because it shows the difference among civilizations towards the other one, the one that is different, and I was so disconcerted that for once I couldn't come to any conclusion about anything this book told me.
Which I guess is a good starting point.
Still, the second part told me nothing and it was dificult to finish. I'd put 5 stars to the chapters I-IX and none to the rest. So I guess 2 is a fair average.