Review Bomb: Antiquity

I can't believe how quickly summer is slipping away. In just a few weeks I will have to report back to school for the new year and my baby is somehow going to be in Kindergarten. I can't even.

So, I am in the process of trying to knock out as many reviews as possible while Eleanor is at her dad's for the weekend, while also continuing my own research and writing about Eleanor of Aquitaine. We are also going home to Minnesota for a visit with family for two whole glorious weeks, and I won't be around much at all. Best to get as much done as possible now while I can.

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 3 Stars

I first have to say that the only reason this one is getting a full three stars is because I want so badly for Atlantis to be real. And when you take everything in the book at face value, you can almost believe it too. It is not a terrible book in that it gives the reader exactly what they are hoping for (assuming one is reading it because they, like me, want Atlantis to have been a real place with a thriving culture). Ultimately you will have to decide for yourself whether you believe or not, but the journey toward either conclusion is half the fun.

One of the main reasons that I could not rate this book any higher is due to the author's seemingly disdainful attitude toward those who dismiss Atlantis as merely a myth. In so many words, he basically alludes to those experts who study the ancient world as lacking imagination. This is troubling, because it simply is not true. There are so many discoveries that have been made explicitly because archaeologists, anthropologists, and a whole host of other -ologists DO have imagination, and seek out what they must to find what they believe is there. And truthfully, it weakens his arguments when he wants to present himself as a credible historian, traipsing all over the world to find evidence. What he appears to be saying, whether it was his intention or not, is that HE is right and every other expert in all those previously-listed fields are wrong. Can we really believe that? Not really.

Despite all of that, I still found myself enjoying much of the book, because turning the idea of Atlantis over in one's mind is a fun thing to do. You can't take the book to seriously, but you can enjoy a few hours wondering 'what if...'

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 4 Stars

I was pleasantly surprised by this slim volume. Covering any aspect of Ancient Rome is something that typically demands hundreds of pages. This text is simply dedicated to the facts of exactly what happened in those final days of Rome's existence as the center of the world. The author makes great use of primary sources, but I did not feel bogged down by the amount of those used, in correlation to the length of the text. It is highly readable and succinct, and makes clear Rome's downfall was their arrogance.

The author details Rome's mistreatment of the Visigoths, who were at that time seeking respite from the attacking Huns who were following them. This put the Visigoths in a terrible position, boxed in by the Romans on one side who did nothing to help, and the Huns on the other in hot pursuit. Visigoth leaders sought some land of their own to provide for their people and asked for this from Rome, offering military aid, yet no deal and Rome missed the boat. The empire would see the error of its ways only when it was burning in the aftermath of Rome's sacking.

Serious scholars or those who study Rome and the Ancient World extensively will not find anything new here. But for those who want a better understanding of a complex time and place, this would be an excellent text to start with. My own interest in Rome waxes and wanes, so I found it to be informative, with many things I knew already but more than a few new pieces of information as well.

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 3.5 Stars

This is kind of a weird book. The subject matter itself, and the heart of the issue - whether or not looted items should be returned to their countries of origin - is not the weird part. The author throughout made some really odd statements and assumptions that almost distracted from the main body of work and left me wondering what the purpose was. The prime example pertains to her statement when discussing the Getty and I suppose trying to illustrate the 'wild' and out-of-control behavior of acquiring stolen art by saying that it was to be expected that employees at the Getty were all having affairs with one another, because it was an elite institution with too much money...what?

Luckily the author also managed to stick to facts when discussing the main topic, and that is items that have been stolen from various countries, sold to other countries, and now reside in big fancy museums in wings dedicated to their time period, ripped completely out of context from their place of origin.

Going into this book, I was a firm believer in the fact that those items should be returned. After reading the book, I still stand by that, in most cases. Because, I also want that history to be cared for, and available for future generations to learn from and about. The destruction of Palmyra by ISIS weighed heavily on my mind while reading this though it was published in 2008, because instability is a huge issue when trying to care for these relics of the past. So much of Palmyra has been destroyed, beautiful ancient structures that can never be replaced. What if the same thing were to happen say, to the Rosetta Stone, one of the specific artifacts that Waxman touches on? Without the Rosetta Stone, we may still be wholly unable to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphs that this piece of history allowed us to finally read. The stone certainly does not belong to the French or the British, despite their discovering and deciphering. It belongs to Egypt. So, do American and European museums have the right to demand that these items be cared for a certain way, before they are willing to return them? Can they even be forced to return the items? I completely understand the fears of great museums, so worried about being emptied of their treasures, but the items never belonged to the countries where they now reside.

Basically, everyone involved in this whole process is guilty of something - the source countries for creating a climate that allowed looting, the looters and smugglers for stealing the items, and the brokers and buyers for not caring too greatly that the pieces they're acquiring are likely stolen. As long as there is money to be made in this, it will continue to happen, whether the pieces are going to large museums or private collections.

The author also spends a bit of time delving into the strange case of Marion True. Her own saga is no less intriguing than the artifacts in question throughout the book. I wonder what she really knew, and why she was the only person prosecuted when it is clear she could not have been the only one guilty in that case. It hardly seems fair, especially if she was trying to do things the right way. Surely though she had to have realized how suspicious the loans for the purchase of her new home looked? What a mess.

I feel like there is a trade-off: either these stolen pieces remain where they are in these internationally renowned museums where millions of visitors get to view them each year - not in their proper context but accompanied with placards describing the very details one could witness for themselves if seeing the works of art in a museum, or historical site, in their country of origin. The downside to the latter part is, as mentioned previously, the care and upkeep of the returned pieces. What if artifacts were returned, only to be stolen again and then sold off into the hands of a private collector or worse, destroyed like so much of Palmyra and other ancient sites? In either case, those artifacts would be gone forever.

Atlantis and the Biblical Flood: The Evidence at Last?

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Review:

I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I so, so badly want Atlantis to be a real place and I don't exactly know why. Maybe it is because of my love for history and I want to believe not only that information about these long-destroyed, ancient places can survive centuries and come down to us now, but perhaps it gives me hope that what we do today will survive the centuries and be known to our descendants.

Considering the approach the author used and the theories he puts forth, I appreciate his background in geology. He has a lot of knowledge that gives him credibility as he explains this catastrophic occurrence that wiped out a huge portion of Britain and Ireland's Ice Age inhabitants. I must say so, the word 'megadeluge' got to be annoying because it was used constantly. I mean, I get it, that's what the occurrence was, but reading it repeatedly just grated on a nerve.

I enjoyed the research and the theories here, but I feel like this could have been two different books. The information regarding a mega flood took up the first 44% of the book and there was zero mention of Atlantis to my recollection. It made me wonder for a while if I had actually selected the wrong book on NetGalley, or somehow a different file had been sent to my Kindle. There doesn't seem to be any doubt that this flood occurred, given the geological evidence, but combining two major events in history seems almost impossible.

There are many positives however, once Atlantis does make its appearance around the 44% mark. There are a myriad of maps included to give the reader an idea of the locations he was referring to. My only gripe about this was that it would have been helpful had the maps been included where they were discussed, instead of being a link to click back and forth between. It would be easier in a print book to keep flipping to an Appendix, but not so much with the Kindle version. If there is a print version, I would love to see a copy and look at the maps in color, that would be very helpful.

The author also makes his case by comparing his idea for Atlantis being on the Celtic Plain with that of Minoan Crete, a popular accepted area where Atlantis may have once stood. I think this is beneficial for the readers, so they can see side by side the way each place is supported by Atlantis 'facts', and where it does not.

The author then deals with what can be considered as known facts about Atlantis, taken from Plato's writings. The author creates a scoring guide, again comparing the how each fact fits with both Minoan Crete and the Celtic Plain. I liked the scoring guide because it breaks up the information about Atlantis and allows the reader to examine it basically one sentence at a time. This also makes it easier to see if one theory holds up better than the other, as opposed to devoting separate chapters to each, forcing the reader to flip back and forth to compare. My issue with this approach is that when the author is presenting the information for the reader to score and judge, he offers his opinion with statements like, "I believe this is unlikely". This does not allow the reader to make up his or her mind on their own, as one assumes the author to be some kind of authority, and would thus sway said opinion. I did not actually take the time to assess these theories with the offered scoring guide, as I do not feel I know enough about the topic. I was interested though to see how the author did so.

After the author presents the reader with the opportunity to rate each theory given the evidence, he then goes on in the ensuing chapters to rate the information himself. I feel like this would have been the place where the author should have included those previous statements just mentioned where he puts forth his opinion. I was kind of disappointed to see here that the author only offered additional statements in his own scoring section as related to his theory.

Overall, I found this text interesting and am glad I had the opportunity to read it. This is the first I have really read of a location put forth outside of the usual suspects and perhaps a fresh perspective is just what is needed to eventually solve this mystery once and for all.

A History of Civilization in 50 Disasters

Rating: 4 Stars

Review:

I have this habit of going through the new release section of the public library catalog and putting a bunch of books on hold that I am interested in. Half the time, the books end up being YA/juvenile, despite me clicking specifically on the history section on the adult list. Sometimes I read the book anyway and this is just such an occasion.

First, I love these kinds of history lessons, these sort of lists that look at some sub-section of human history and how those pieces matter and come together to form one aspect - another good one is 'The History of the World in 100 Objects'. Very interesting.

Anyway, despite being about a depressing subject matter, the content was highly interesting and worked well for an adult, as easily as it would for a YA reader. The book covers a wide range of topics, from earthquakes, plague, volcanoes, to a molasses flood. For real. A flood of molasses. It would be funny if people had not died. I guess the phrase "Slower than molasses in winter" is not really accurate after all. I don't say this to be cheeky, I had never heard of this disaster and it was very interesting, I love that Santorini, the burning of Rome, and Pompeii were included, though the majority of the disasters that the author focused on were 13th century and beyond. This makes sense of course, those darn dinosaurs Neanderthals never bothered to write anything down.

Each chapter is between two and four pages long, so not overly detailed for the intended audience, but still giving enough information to keep the reader interested. This would be a great resource for research, or for a reluctant reader to find topics that might be of interest to them. In addition, there are a few further resources - a glossary for readers who might be unfamiliar with the terms in the book, and additional resources related to each topic, as well as a brief introduction to the research process. There are also tons of maps and photos throughout, great color photos that add to the content.

I like this series, I think it is an interesting way to hook those readers who have had a hard time finding things that they want to read about. Short chapters, with addition resources if they do find something of interest.

My only real, tiny complaint is in the form of the 50th disaster - it was actually called 'Disaster in the Making' and discussed climate change in our century and the possible ensuing consequences that will come if we do not reverse course and try to get global warming under control. So really, this is not actually a disaster that has happened, but one that is in the process of happening as I type this review. And even then, this is not major - more of an aside.

I recommend this both for those YA readers looking for something engaging, and those who are interested in learning more about these types of disasters and how they have impacted our history.

Meet Me in Atlantis

Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

What a wild ride. I loved this adventure, and isn't that half the fun - the adventure of getting to wherever you're going, more so than the end point itself? I appreciated the author's change of mindset, going from someone who wanted to find out what made people so obsessed with Atlantis, to almost becoming obsessed with finding it himself. I find the subject itself fascinating, and wish I had the resources he has to go traveling from place to place, dutifully following one lead, then another, then another. He is objective, never giving one theory precedence over another, finding flaws in each as he weighs the evidence supporting each. I'm quite jealous of the people he meets and the places he sees throughout his travels. 

At the risk of sounding like some kook, much like so many of those who search for Atlantis have been labeled, I want Atlantis to be real. I want it to be a place that someone finds in my lifetime, and we can be in awe of one of (maybe) many of these ancient, thriving civilizations that rival our world today. The world is such a vast place, can we really be so arrogant as to believe we know everything about this planet, that we've uncovered every secret it holds? Hardly. So, yes it may be crazy, but Atlantis might really be out there, somewhere. Wouldn't that be something