ebooks Europe Between the Oceans: 9000 BC-AD 1000 by Barry Cunliffe in History

Review

72 of 75 people found the following review helpful. A great treasureBy Robert J. MeltonThis book is a great treasure - if I was headed for a desert island it would be one of the ten books I would take with me. (And that is after a good forty years of reading history and literature) Cunliffe gives a wide and deep summary of Europe's growth and evolution from the paleolithic to the Roman empire. Unlike so many historians with narrow views; he weaves together findings from archaeology; climatology; geographpy; medical genetics; social history and ecology. His prose is a miracle of clarity; conciseness and sparkled here and there with a little wit and mischief. He highlights the big controversies; lets you know where he stands on them; but is never dogmatic or overbearing. He writes from a long career in this field; yet everything in the book is right up to date. The maps; charts and photos are all a graphic designer's dream - perfectly rendered and always completely integrated with the text. In fact; the book is a publisher's masterpiece. I could go on and on - but just go out and get this!!14 of 15 people found the following review helpful. Oceans of pleasureBy Jay C. SmithEurope Between the Oceans: 9000 BC-AD 1000Europe between the Oceans is a marvelous book on at least three levels. First; it is itself an impressive artifact; a prime example of what a great loss it would be if publishers abandoned the printed page to go exclusively to electronic media. This is the sort of book you will want to own and have on your shelves not only for future reference; but also for purely aesthetic reasons. The hundreds of illustrations -- mostly maps and photos of archeological artifacts and sites -- are often beautiful and are always relevant to the text. They complement and clarify what Cunliffe has to say; as opposed to interfering with the narrative.Second; this volume is a grand synthesis of what archeologists; historians; and other specialists know about the distant past. It is a fine example of "big history;" the sort that addresses the "longue dureé;" not just brief episodes. The total sweep is 10;000 years and even the individual chapters span sufficiently broad periods for Cunliffe to see patterns and trends that would be obscured in finer focus. Europe between the Oceans is also big history in the sense that it is interdisciplinary. Cunliffe is an archeologist and that is the specialized knowledge most on display here; but he also branches into geology; oceanography; genetics; and other sciences applicable to doing history in the absence of written documents. And for the later periods when the texts are there he has absorbed much of the relevant scholarship.Third; Cunliffe offers many illuminating insights and interpretations. I caution that I am a non-specialist reader; so I am not sure of the originality of much of what he has to say; but it impressed me. I will present just a few examples in the summary that follows.Much like Jared Diamond; Cunliffe attends to geographic and environmental factors that may have conferred advantage. He claims that the diets of the coastal peoples of what he call the "European Peninsula" enabled a rapid increase in population and led to a more sedentary lifestyle. Even in much of the interior the European landscape and environment were supportive of human thriving: a wide variety of ecological niches supported development of distinctive economies. Cunliffe notes the favorable location of Middle Europe (the North Alpine area); for instance. It commands the northern approaches to the passes through the Alps and incorporates the headwaters of the major rivers. East-west trade routes passed through this zone and were especially active in the late Bronze age (c. 1300-800 BC); for example.One of Cunliffe's major themes is that the favorable environmental and resource conditions that supported population growth in turn "led to the development of complex societies hierarchically structured and controlled by elites." These societies competed for land; resources; and luxury goods. This competition; Cunliffe continues; "energized society; creating a dynamic that drove forward production; innovation; and exploration." The author draws on Braudel to make the large point that imbalances in the distribution of resources are productive of change.Seas and rivers facilitated exploration and exchange. A major strength of this book lies in how Cunliffe has applied the archeological findings; the distribution of found artifacts; to document trade routes and patterns. For much of the period that he examines he believes that ideas and values flowed primarily through exchange networks. But population pressures also contributed to mass migrations from time to time as well.Cunliffe observes that the period 800-500 BC was pivotal; he entitles this chapter "The Three Hundred Years that Changed the World". Greeks; Phoenicians; Etruscans; Carthaginians; and Romans emerged as big players on the world stage. Whereas previously the trading system was built largely on tribute and gift-giving among elites; by the end of this period it had shifted toward exchange of commodities without further obligations.Cunliffe seeks to restore a balance; to give areas outside the Mediterranean cultures their proper due. He points out that the disparity in the historical information available between the Mediterranean zone and the rest of Europe has contributed to a tendency to treat them separately. Instead; he claims; the two areas "... can only be understood in relation to each other."I especially appreciated Cunliffe's willingness from time to time to speculate beyond the evidence (he clearly calls out when he is doing this). Similarly; he acknowledges at least some of the problems presented by reliance on archeological findings. For instance; he points out that just tracking crude numbers of discovered objects can mislead because the great majority of surviving objects come from hoards -- deposits deliberately buried in the earth -- or from bodies of water where they may have been deposited as votive offerings to the gods. Thus; for example; the increase in recovered bronze items dating to the 1300-800 BC period may reflect shifts in the practices of worshiping deities; rather than an increase in bronze in circulation. We simply cannot say for sure.It will take you awhile to get through Europe between the Oceans if you attend to it carefully; but if you are like me you will find pleasures on virtually every page.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A joy to readBy E. MooreWonderful book. Cunliffe has created a masterpiece. Large; colorful illustrations accent page after page of information. It's not just a "textbook" for archaeology nuts like myself; but a story. Easily the most immersive textbook i've read to date.This one has a permanent place on my bookshelf.