Land Between the Rivers by Bartle Bull

This book’s full title is Land Between the Rivers; A 5,000 Year History of Iraq. This is a long book and not only covers the area of what is now Iraq, but covers the whole middle east as the Iraq area is invaded or highly influence by the areas surrounding it. For example, he talks a great deal about the beginnings of Islam and the Arabs, as they invaded the area between the two rivers.

This a large read, but it is quite readable and I think that it is worth it for the wealth of information about Iraq and the surrounding area. This is the area of the first civilizations and Bartle Bull covers a lot of ground. Bartle Bull seems to be a good writer, but his interviews are hard to listen to and follow what he is trying to say.

There are some interesting reviews at Good Reads about this book. Peter Gordon on Asian Review of Books has an interest review of this book. He ends the review by saying “Mesopotamia has a good claim on being both incomprehensibly ancient and central to world history to an extent now often under-appreciated, an oversight that Land Between the Rivers should go a long (enjoyable) way to correcting”. The review from Inquiry from an Anti-Library on YouTube covers the story told about in this book, but the reviewer talks in a monotone. The last review I want to point out is one by Douglas Ollivant at Rappahannock Musings. This is a long review, but worth reading.

Leslie Heaney interviews Bartle Bull . They talk about his book and Iraq. Susan Appe moderates a conversation between Robert Kaplan and Bartle Bull about their most recent books on YouTube. Robert Kaplan wrote Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis and Bartle wrote Land Between Two Rivers. There is a comment on Bartle Bull and speaking and he is not a good speaker.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

The Ancient Near East by Amanda Podany

This book’s full title is The Ancient Near East, a Very Short Introduction. This book gives a very good introduction to the first civilizations. It covers the near east from around 3600 BCE to 539 BCE. I think this is a neat little book on the first civilizations.

There is a very good review of this book by Joshua Markon World History Encyclopedia site. On the site of Academia Education, there is a review and access to different papers on this subject for downloading .

Spencer Reads everything on YouTube goes over what this book covers. He basically goes chapter by chapter in the end. It is interesting as it covers what the book is all about. There is an interview by Kelly on World History Encyclopedia of Amanda Podany of her new book of Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.

India, A History by John Keay

This book’s full title is above, but on the cover, it says, Keay’s panoramic vision and multidisciplinary approach serves the function of all great historical writing. It illuminates the present. This is by Thrity Umrigar, the Boston Globe. This is a history of India from around 3000 BCE to around 2000 AD. It took me a very long time to read this book and it was worth it. I read the second edition, but apparently this has recently been republished.

What stood out for me was the massacres of Indians by the Muslims and the Muslims by the Indians. There has been a surprising number of these massacres since British rule ended in 1948. I knew little of Indian history before reading this book. That is why I was attracted to it.

The reviews at Goodreads seem to be the best place for reviews of this book. There are quite a number. Some positive and others negative. One reviewer lists a number of books on India he thinks are better. There are a lot of long and thoughtful reviews on this site. Bryan Caswell on Concerning History does an interesting review of this book. The site of Kirkus has a book review on this book. The reviewer ends with saying about the book “Without peer among general studies, a history that is intelligent, incisive, and eminently readable”.

Short comment by John Keay on YouTube. John Keay is interviewed on Harper Broadcast. This is a short video of less than 10 minutes. Rida’s Reels on Instagram offers 6 books on India and Partition.

An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.