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In Search of the First Civilizations
Five thousand years ago there began the most momentous revolution in human history. Starting in Mesopotamia, city civilization emerged for the first time on earth, to be followed in Egypt, India, China and the Americas. The ideals of these ancient civilizations still shape the lives of the majority of mankind. "In Search of the First Civilizations" (previously published as Legacy) asks the intriguing what is civilization? Did it mean the same to the Chinese, the Indians and the Greeks? What can the values of the ancient cultures teach us today? And do the ideals of the West - a latecomer to civilization - really have universal validity? In this fascinating historical search, Michael Wood explores these ancient cultures, looking for their essential character and their continuing legacy.
208 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 1992
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441 people want to read
About the author
Michael Wood
227 books334 followersLibrarian Note: There's more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Michael David Wood is an English historian & broadcaster. He's presented numerous tv documentary series. Library of Congress lists him as Michael Wood.
Wood was born in Moston, Manchester, & educated at Manchester Grammar School & Oriel College, Oxford. His special interest was Anglo-Saxon history. In the 70s Wood worked for the BBC in Manchester. He was 1st a reporter, then an assistant producer on current affairs programmes, before returning to his love of history with his 1981 series In Search of the Dark Ages for BBC2. This explored the lives of leaders of the period, including Boadicea, King Arthur, Offa, Alfred the Great, Athelstan, Eric Bloodaxe & William the Conquerer (& gave rise to his 1st book, based upon the series).
Michael David Wood is an English historian & broadcaster. He's presented numerous tv documentary series. Library of Congress lists him as Michael Wood.
Wood was born in Moston, Manchester, & educated at Manchester Grammar School & Oriel College, Oxford. His special interest was Anglo-Saxon history. In the 70s Wood worked for the BBC in Manchester. He was 1st a reporter, then an assistant producer on current affairs programmes, before returning to his love of history with his 1981 series In Search of the Dark Ages for BBC2. This explored the lives of leaders of the period, including Boadicea, King Arthur, Offa, Alfred the Great, Athelstan, Eric Bloodaxe & William the Conquerer (& gave rise to his 1st book, based upon the series).
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September 25, 2017One of the covers blurbs runs: "Wood takes great care to put everything in a large historical perspective, which is actually more disturbing than comforting". So wrote an intrepid reviewer for the New York Times, but from my perspective I found this to be above all a friendly book. A spin off from a TV series first published in the early 1990s it felt very visual to me. Reading I wondered, particularly in the chapters on India and China, if it was overly simplistic in its judgements , which in turn led me to wonder if I only didn't find the other chapters simplistic only because they chimed in with other books that I have read. There's nothing quite like confirmation bias.
The concept of the book is that intrepid historian Michael Wood presents short overviews of the civilisations of Iraq, India, China, Egypt, Central America and the Barbarian West (otherwise known as Europe) starting from their Stone Age and Bronze Age roots drawing out the continuing trends and habits down to what was the present day.
In Iraq, glancing over ruined environments Wood tells us that it was there that the notion developed that the city & the natural environment do not form part of an integrated cosmological structure. Instead the civilised world is in anti-thesis to nature. Thepeople of the civilised world cultivate desert places and are in effect at war with nature. This attitude was read into their theology and into the monotheistic religions (p46). What is interesting here is that Iraq becomes a formative influence on the development of Western civilisation. According to Wood, Mesopotamia and Europe are two regions of the world that have more in common with each in terms of basic attitudes than with the rest of the world.
I don't know, the nature of a project like this is that you do either present very broad brush conclusions or point out just how hopelessly messy and open ended everything is. All civilisations, all cultures impact upon the environment. Perhaps some regret it more than others, but here I think of the Walrus and the Carpenter. Does the idea of dominion over the earth and over living creatures mean that followers of the monotheistic faiths are more vicious in extracting gravel and more savage in their open cast mining than everybody else?
There was an interesting emphasis on continuity of religious practice in the chapter on India. At the end there is a description of Nehru leaving instructions in his will to have his ashes scattered at the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna at Allahabad while denying any religious meaning to the action - although in Indian Summer von Tunzelmann says that his funeral was completely planned and delivered by Indira Ghandi, which puts a different complexion on it - less cultural continuity, more political theatre. Still this tickled my mind into thinking of Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy. Orthodoxy we might say is to a culture as consciousness is to the mind while orthopraxy is the unconscious. We do the same things as our ancestors while telling ourselves that our reasons for doing so are different.
Unfortunately the bibliography for this section has a lot of older books while in the text Wood mentions recent discoveries about the Indus Valley civilisation. On reflection, a problem with this book isthat the emphasis on cultural continuity sits in a narrative that makes clear how provisional much of our knowledge is. The deep stone age roots of the Indus Valley cultures were coming to light only in the 1980s similarly our understanding of the Maya was transformed in the 1980s when their script was deciphered. In twenty years time how far will these narratives be tenable? A few discoveries or a single breakthrough can transform our understanding of the past. In light of that there is an unacknowledged tension in the book between the stress both upon continuity, very long term continuities in world cultures and how recently the evidence for some of these continuities has emerged.
Still it was an enjoyable read as the book takes in the connections between those civilisations and the far-flung communities of Jews and Muslims in China as well as surviving communities of Yezidis, the sewers big enough to walk through in Mohendro-Daro, and raucous celebrations at festivals along the Nile. The crab-wise march of Hindu and Buddhist texts through translation into Persian under the Mughals, then into Latin, to reach the likes of Schonpenhauer. How much was inspired through mistranslation?
Why was the reviewer for the New York Post disturbed? Maybe the sense of impending loss (although there are two stories in this book one of loss and the other of survival), maybe on the contrary the sense of how difficult, if not impossible, it is the escape the logic of a civilisation. Then again perhaps it was Wood invoking Karl Jaspers and his idea of the Axial Age. We may be able to fly to the Moon (and hopefully back) but inside our heads we have barely, if at all, moved. The answers to the problems of life and living in complex societies that were devised circa 500BC provided by the Monotheistic religions, Confucianism, Buddhism, Jainism, Daoism among others still satisfy a fair sized chunk of the world's population. And even if not entirely satisfactory mark out the paths that many tread.
In discussing China Wood suggests that civilisations consciously pursue something like Maslow's hierarchy of needs - seeking to provide first adequate food, shelter and security to the population and then the possibility of self actualisation (at least for the elite). Like much in this book the story is appealing, the conception nice, but the evidence for such a controlling mind is not to be found here.
The concept of the book is that intrepid historian Michael Wood presents short overviews of the civilisations of Iraq, India, China, Egypt, Central America and the Barbarian West (otherwise known as Europe) starting from their Stone Age and Bronze Age roots drawing out the continuing trends and habits down to what was the present day.
In Iraq, glancing over ruined environments Wood tells us that it was there that the notion developed that the city & the natural environment do not form part of an integrated cosmological structure. Instead the civilised world is in anti-thesis to nature. Thepeople of the civilised world cultivate desert places and are in effect at war with nature. This attitude was read into their theology and into the monotheistic religions (p46). What is interesting here is that Iraq becomes a formative influence on the development of Western civilisation. According to Wood, Mesopotamia and Europe are two regions of the world that have more in common with each in terms of basic attitudes than with the rest of the world.
I don't know, the nature of a project like this is that you do either present very broad brush conclusions or point out just how hopelessly messy and open ended everything is. All civilisations, all cultures impact upon the environment. Perhaps some regret it more than others, but here I think of the Walrus and the Carpenter. Does the idea of dominion over the earth and over living creatures mean that followers of the monotheistic faiths are more vicious in extracting gravel and more savage in their open cast mining than everybody else?
There was an interesting emphasis on continuity of religious practice in the chapter on India. At the end there is a description of Nehru leaving instructions in his will to have his ashes scattered at the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna at Allahabad while denying any religious meaning to the action - although in Indian Summer von Tunzelmann says that his funeral was completely planned and delivered by Indira Ghandi, which puts a different complexion on it - less cultural continuity, more political theatre. Still this tickled my mind into thinking of Orthodoxy and Orthopraxy. Orthodoxy we might say is to a culture as consciousness is to the mind while orthopraxy is the unconscious. We do the same things as our ancestors while telling ourselves that our reasons for doing so are different.
Unfortunately the bibliography for this section has a lot of older books while in the text Wood mentions recent discoveries about the Indus Valley civilisation. On reflection, a problem with this book isthat the emphasis on cultural continuity sits in a narrative that makes clear how provisional much of our knowledge is. The deep stone age roots of the Indus Valley cultures were coming to light only in the 1980s similarly our understanding of the Maya was transformed in the 1980s when their script was deciphered. In twenty years time how far will these narratives be tenable? A few discoveries or a single breakthrough can transform our understanding of the past. In light of that there is an unacknowledged tension in the book between the stress both upon continuity, very long term continuities in world cultures and how recently the evidence for some of these continuities has emerged.
Still it was an enjoyable read as the book takes in the connections between those civilisations and the far-flung communities of Jews and Muslims in China as well as surviving communities of Yezidis, the sewers big enough to walk through in Mohendro-Daro, and raucous celebrations at festivals along the Nile. The crab-wise march of Hindu and Buddhist texts through translation into Persian under the Mughals, then into Latin, to reach the likes of Schonpenhauer. How much was inspired through mistranslation?
Why was the reviewer for the New York Post disturbed? Maybe the sense of impending loss (although there are two stories in this book one of loss and the other of survival), maybe on the contrary the sense of how difficult, if not impossible, it is the escape the logic of a civilisation. Then again perhaps it was Wood invoking Karl Jaspers and his idea of the Axial Age. We may be able to fly to the Moon (and hopefully back) but inside our heads we have barely, if at all, moved. The answers to the problems of life and living in complex societies that were devised circa 500BC provided by the Monotheistic religions, Confucianism, Buddhism, Jainism, Daoism among others still satisfy a fair sized chunk of the world's population. And even if not entirely satisfactory mark out the paths that many tread.
In discussing China Wood suggests that civilisations consciously pursue something like Maslow's hierarchy of needs - seeking to provide first adequate food, shelter and security to the population and then the possibility of self actualisation (at least for the elite). Like much in this book the story is appealing, the conception nice, but the evidence for such a controlling mind is not to be found here.
February 10, 2017
❝Iraq: The Cradle of Civilization
India: The Empire of Spirit
China: The Mandate of Heaven
Egypt: The Habit of Civilization
Central America: The Burden of Time
& The Barbarian West❞
These are the Legacies according to Wood that the world has received from the civilizations of the ancient world. Just about a bird's eye view of the ascension of these civilisations, their developments and the supposed legacies that they have left behind in forms of traditions, practices, religion or the way of life that are prevalent even today. There was a bit of stereotyping imho, of the so called legacies from the respective regions.
I watched the tv adaptation before picking up the book. A relatively easy book esp for the uninitiated if you don't want to be bogged down with too many names, dates, details or much of theories. Having said that it needs to be kept in mind that this was written way back in 1992, more information in terms of research; theories; arguments and contentions are available today, but reading/ watching Wood's unbashed enthusiasm is always fun...
December 1, 2021
This book definitely carries a wrong title. In fact, BBC journalist and historian Michael Wood (b. 1948) pays very little attention to the earliest civilizations (Mesopotamia, India, China, Egypt, Central America). He does take them as a starting point, but after a few pages he jumps over to the further history of the regions where those first civilizations occurred. And his main thesis, then, is that the basic features of those early civilizations also returned later, down to the present day. Of course, there’s something to it, but in doing this in such an extremist way, Wood ignores all the findings that have been highlighted by movements such as Global History, Transnational History, Connected and Subaltern History in recent decades. And that is that all civilizations and cultures have continuously influenced each other, in a mutual cross-fertilization, with very different accents and constant evolutions and shifts. Michael Wood apparently deliberately chooses to close his eyes to this, perhaps a consequence of the simplification of the TV format on which this book is based. Though this certainly is an enjoyable read, it is definitely outdated. More on that in my History account on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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October 21, 2024Continuity and discontinuity are two key concepts in historical studies. There are historians who mainly highlight the continuity between past and present, and others who rather focus on the fractures and emphasize the role of disruption and contingency. Clearly, Michael Wood is one of the first kind, and even a fairly extreme one. In this book, he zooms in on several regions in the world where 'civilizations' emerged relatively early in human history that are now considered as classical: Mesopotamia, China, India, Egypt, and Central America; curiously enough, he also adds 'barbaric Europe'. Wood's intent is not at all to explain how those civilizations came to be, but rather to show how they continue to influence the present. That seems obvious, but it isn't, at least not in the way Wood presents it.
To start with, Wood takes a very classical approach to what civilizations are, namely based on 'large-scale urban life', and links it to the image of the ups and downs of these forms of organized human coexistence. He relativises that cliché image by highlighting how much certain cultural characteristics have been preserved afterwards. And of course, up to a point he’s right: specific geographic and climatic conditions inevitably impose certain forms of habitation and patterns of behavior on societies. And through the generations, cultural traditions are passed on and sometimes preserved for centuries. But it is all too simple to give the impression that there is almost by definition continuity in material and immaterial cultural forms, over thousands of years. And that's what Wood is doing here, even to a very extreme degree.
Some examples? Without much nuance, Wood makes a direct connection between the thriving Mesopotamian civilization of 5000 years ago and the way the swamp dwellers in the south of present-day Iraq live. Also, the Shia rituals and beliefs of today are, according to him, inspired by the pessimistic view of life of the old Sumerian-Babylonian civilization. In fact, Wood insists that some of Iraq's cities today are simply a carbon copy of those of thousands of years ago. Even worse is his hypothesis about the link between the earliest civilization in India (the Harappa civilization, about which we still know little) and the India of today, emphasizing the cultural continuity, especially in the obsessive spiritual quest within the Indian subcontinent. This leads him to appalling simplistic statements, such as this one: “India placed the spiritual quest at the center of life in the way that no other civilization did. (….) History is full of empires of the sword. India alone created an empire of the spirit.” And so we can go on.
There is nothing wrong with pointing out elements of continuity; of course, traditions are taken over and continued. But Wood suggests that an entire civilization lives on, just as a person regenerates itself over and over through the incessant replacement of cells throughout their life. In practice, Wood sees civilizations as a kind of closed containers that are maintained for thousands of years within their own geographic area. Doing this, he implicitly confirms the image that Samuel Huntington presents in his famous/infamous The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, that also assumes homogeneous cultural entities. In Huntington's case, this inevitably leads to confrontation, but Wood doesn't go that far; he wants above all to emphasize the value of these different cultural forms, or at least of some of them (to the detriment of the so-called universalism of Western modernity). But still, to be able to do that he has to state that civilizations are locked up within their own logic. And I'm sorry, but that's plainly wrong.
It is incomprehensible that a solid historian like Wood maintains that way of looking at the past, even in the later editions of this book (mine dates from 2005). Because in the past 30 years, historians have begun to look at the development of cultures and civilizations very differently. This happened mainly under the influence of trends such as Global History, Transnational History and Interconnected History, with offshoots in other directions such as Subaltern History. These movements emphasize the interaction and interconnectedness of regions, the continuous exchange that, each in very specific forms and determined by contingent history, led to cultural forms with highly varied dynamics, both internal and external. That's a very different way of looking at history, started as a reaction to the rigid nation-state historiography of the 19th and 20th centuries. This focus of interaction applies to almost all areas of human action: political, economic, social, religious, cultural, material, etc. And, of course, this way of looking does not deny that certain 'wholes' exist with an own identity, but this always turns out to be very temporary, heterogeneous and above all dynamic, in constant interaction with oneself and with others. In that sense, Wood's book really detracts from a much more nuanced approach to history, and thus to current reality.
To start with, Wood takes a very classical approach to what civilizations are, namely based on 'large-scale urban life', and links it to the image of the ups and downs of these forms of organized human coexistence. He relativises that cliché image by highlighting how much certain cultural characteristics have been preserved afterwards. And of course, up to a point he’s right: specific geographic and climatic conditions inevitably impose certain forms of habitation and patterns of behavior on societies. And through the generations, cultural traditions are passed on and sometimes preserved for centuries. But it is all too simple to give the impression that there is almost by definition continuity in material and immaterial cultural forms, over thousands of years. And that's what Wood is doing here, even to a very extreme degree.
Some examples? Without much nuance, Wood makes a direct connection between the thriving Mesopotamian civilization of 5000 years ago and the way the swamp dwellers in the south of present-day Iraq live. Also, the Shia rituals and beliefs of today are, according to him, inspired by the pessimistic view of life of the old Sumerian-Babylonian civilization. In fact, Wood insists that some of Iraq's cities today are simply a carbon copy of those of thousands of years ago. Even worse is his hypothesis about the link between the earliest civilization in India (the Harappa civilization, about which we still know little) and the India of today, emphasizing the cultural continuity, especially in the obsessive spiritual quest within the Indian subcontinent. This leads him to appalling simplistic statements, such as this one: “India placed the spiritual quest at the center of life in the way that no other civilization did. (….) History is full of empires of the sword. India alone created an empire of the spirit.” And so we can go on.
There is nothing wrong with pointing out elements of continuity; of course, traditions are taken over and continued. But Wood suggests that an entire civilization lives on, just as a person regenerates itself over and over through the incessant replacement of cells throughout their life. In practice, Wood sees civilizations as a kind of closed containers that are maintained for thousands of years within their own geographic area. Doing this, he implicitly confirms the image that Samuel Huntington presents in his famous/infamous The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, that also assumes homogeneous cultural entities. In Huntington's case, this inevitably leads to confrontation, but Wood doesn't go that far; he wants above all to emphasize the value of these different cultural forms, or at least of some of them (to the detriment of the so-called universalism of Western modernity). But still, to be able to do that he has to state that civilizations are locked up within their own logic. And I'm sorry, but that's plainly wrong.
It is incomprehensible that a solid historian like Wood maintains that way of looking at the past, even in the later editions of this book (mine dates from 2005). Because in the past 30 years, historians have begun to look at the development of cultures and civilizations very differently. This happened mainly under the influence of trends such as Global History, Transnational History and Interconnected History, with offshoots in other directions such as Subaltern History. These movements emphasize the interaction and interconnectedness of regions, the continuous exchange that, each in very specific forms and determined by contingent history, led to cultural forms with highly varied dynamics, both internal and external. That's a very different way of looking at history, started as a reaction to the rigid nation-state historiography of the 19th and 20th centuries. This focus of interaction applies to almost all areas of human action: political, economic, social, religious, cultural, material, etc. And, of course, this way of looking does not deny that certain 'wholes' exist with an own identity, but this always turns out to be very temporary, heterogeneous and above all dynamic, in constant interaction with oneself and with others. In that sense, Wood's book really detracts from a much more nuanced approach to history, and thus to current reality.
August 26, 2012
Michael Wood's clear writing renders his overview of the "First Civilisations" (as defined by him, based on a fairly Western definition of civilisation) easy to read as well as informative. He's generally aware of colonialism and his own potential bias. He does his best to explore the ancient civilisations of Iraq, India, China, Egypt and the Americas on their own merits, though he frequently lapses into wondering about what merit they could have for our own civilisation's future, particularly in the last section of the book.
Well-illustrated and, as with his other books, more of an overview than anything, but worth picking up for an introduction. I didn't know all that much about these civilisations apart from the official colonial myths still taught in schools. (E.g. the Mayans doing human sacrifices and needing to be subdued for their own good.)
Well-illustrated and, as with his other books, more of an overview than anything, but worth picking up for an introduction. I didn't know all that much about these civilisations apart from the official colonial myths still taught in schools. (E.g. the Mayans doing human sacrifices and needing to be subdued for their own good.)
July 20, 2011
I've long been a fan of the writings and television work of Michael Wood. In fact Wood's early eighties broadcast and publication of 'In Search of the Dark Ages' set me on fire with that particular period of English history. So whenever I've come across any writing from this man I've had to read it. 'In Search of the First Civilizations', published in 1992 does not disappoint.
The book is set into five main sections, looking at the civilizations that grew in Iraq, India, China, Egypt and Central America. With such broad histories, covered in less than two hundred pages, the topics are naturally kept concise, yet reveal deep insights into the developments of the separate societies, their religions, science, philosophies and politics.
As Wood writes, "the point about the independent origins of civilization has particular significance for us now, for only when we look at the beginnings and the long and continuing influence of the first civilizations can we hope to understand what is universally relevant in our own history and what is merely Western idiosyncrasy."
The final chapter 'The Barbarian West', which forms the epilogue to this book, brings the reader up to the twenty first century, with many a thought provoking bump. A stark warning then, that our modern scientific civilization where man has become a law unto himself, set apart from nature, we race toward a similar fate suffered by the ancient Sumerians.
The book is set into five main sections, looking at the civilizations that grew in Iraq, India, China, Egypt and Central America. With such broad histories, covered in less than two hundred pages, the topics are naturally kept concise, yet reveal deep insights into the developments of the separate societies, their religions, science, philosophies and politics.
As Wood writes, "the point about the independent origins of civilization has particular significance for us now, for only when we look at the beginnings and the long and continuing influence of the first civilizations can we hope to understand what is universally relevant in our own history and what is merely Western idiosyncrasy."
The final chapter 'The Barbarian West', which forms the epilogue to this book, brings the reader up to the twenty first century, with many a thought provoking bump. A stark warning then, that our modern scientific civilization where man has become a law unto himself, set apart from nature, we race toward a similar fate suffered by the ancient Sumerians.
September 9, 2022
I’m afraid this is the first book by Michael Wood that I have found disappointing.
Perhaps the main reason is that it doesn’t do what it says on the cover. I thought this would be an examination and exploration of the first civilizations – it does rather say that, doesn’t it? – but it wasn’t. While it begins with the ancient civilizations of the Near East, India, China, Egypt, the Americas, it then assumes that the founding ideas of these civilizations have been transmitted down through the ages and, with somewhat cherrypicked examples, follows these regional civilizations through the ages up to the modern age, attempting to show that each is the heir of its past.
While I have some sympathy with the idea, the brush strokes are too broad and the crucial explosions of new religions, which alone are capable of redefining the ruling myths of a civilization, are glossed over. That there are continuities between the Egypt of the Pharaohs and modern Muslim Egypt I don’t think anyone would disagree with. But the discontinuities are, if anything, even more profound.
So skip this book and read Wood’s brilliant In Search of the Dark Ages instead.
Perhaps the main reason is that it doesn’t do what it says on the cover. I thought this would be an examination and exploration of the first civilizations – it does rather say that, doesn’t it? – but it wasn’t. While it begins with the ancient civilizations of the Near East, India, China, Egypt, the Americas, it then assumes that the founding ideas of these civilizations have been transmitted down through the ages and, with somewhat cherrypicked examples, follows these regional civilizations through the ages up to the modern age, attempting to show that each is the heir of its past.
While I have some sympathy with the idea, the brush strokes are too broad and the crucial explosions of new religions, which alone are capable of redefining the ruling myths of a civilization, are glossed over. That there are continuities between the Egypt of the Pharaohs and modern Muslim Egypt I don’t think anyone would disagree with. But the discontinuities are, if anything, even more profound.
So skip this book and read Wood’s brilliant In Search of the Dark Ages instead.
October 15, 2013
This first edition hard back copy of Michael Wood's "Legacy" arrived just in time to save me from drowning in a boring novel. Never mind that I already had two later editions (large format paperback and a revised mass market edition) this one felt good in my hands and drew me in from the first paragraph.
Knowing the classic television series on which the text is based helped me to readily digest this outline of the rise and decline (and destruction) of the major ancient civilisations of the world. How did the rampant West get to be top dog over older, richer and more spiritually evolved civilisations?
The book is divided into chapters that correspond with the episodes of the TV series, namely Iraq; India; China; Egypt; Central America and finally The Barbarian West, of which we are all heirs, for good or ill.
One of the things I love about Wood's books is that I can hear his voice in the printed words... not just because I know the TV episodes almost by heart, but because his turn of phrase and excitement for the subject is preserved in the text.
For me, Michael Wood has done for historical subjects what Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" (book and TV series) did for science and astronomy... made something complex and almost unpalatable into a thing of beauty and wonder - and understandable.
Finishing the book just makes me want to get out the DVDs of the series and watch them again. I can never get enough of this sort of subject matter when it is done this well.
Review by Kerry Hennigan
April 7, 2013.
Knowing the classic television series on which the text is based helped me to readily digest this outline of the rise and decline (and destruction) of the major ancient civilisations of the world. How did the rampant West get to be top dog over older, richer and more spiritually evolved civilisations?
The book is divided into chapters that correspond with the episodes of the TV series, namely Iraq; India; China; Egypt; Central America and finally The Barbarian West, of which we are all heirs, for good or ill.
One of the things I love about Wood's books is that I can hear his voice in the printed words... not just because I know the TV episodes almost by heart, but because his turn of phrase and excitement for the subject is preserved in the text.
For me, Michael Wood has done for historical subjects what Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" (book and TV series) did for science and astronomy... made something complex and almost unpalatable into a thing of beauty and wonder - and understandable.
Finishing the book just makes me want to get out the DVDs of the series and watch them again. I can never get enough of this sort of subject matter when it is done this well.
Review by Kerry Hennigan
April 7, 2013.
November 2, 2023
The author didn't spend nearly as much time on ancient civilizations as I would have expected, but this was still a fascinating read.
July 12, 2019
Michael Wood is a perceptive historian with a wide range of knowledge. He's a good guide to something as iffy as the rise of civilization, which carries with it the sometimes offensive notion that some people in some places at some times were more civilized than others. I don't personally buy into that argument most days because I recognize that just because I live in rural Maine doesn't mean that people in New York City are more civilized than I am. They are more harried. They are more rude. And they see many fewer examples of road kill. But, hey, to each his own.
Anyway, this volume is a quick overview of the rise of cities and states that depend on them, what we think of as civilization. True, farmers beating back the jungle can be part of the same civilizations, but it's the kings and artists and writers and soldiers we tend both to remember and focus on. That might be unfair on some level, but we only have so much information to go on.
Anyhow, this is a companion to a television series I never saw. It reads like that at times. Yet it's a comfortable journey across time and around the globe. I learned a little here and there, which is always valuable, and I never found myself rolling my eyes, which is always good.
This is not the volume to learn about the grand sweep of history from time immemorial. It is, however, a nice volume to refresh memory and learn a little.
Anyway, this volume is a quick overview of the rise of cities and states that depend on them, what we think of as civilization. True, farmers beating back the jungle can be part of the same civilizations, but it's the kings and artists and writers and soldiers we tend both to remember and focus on. That might be unfair on some level, but we only have so much information to go on.
Anyhow, this is a companion to a television series I never saw. It reads like that at times. Yet it's a comfortable journey across time and around the globe. I learned a little here and there, which is always valuable, and I never found myself rolling my eyes, which is always good.
This is not the volume to learn about the grand sweep of history from time immemorial. It is, however, a nice volume to refresh memory and learn a little.
April 19, 2023
Although a bit global, this book offers a great insight in the ancient civilizations of the world. Showcasing the diversity in thought and identity between these fabled empires. The book talks about ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, South America and the younger, invasive “West”. Comparing them with each other as well as showing lines to more recent times.
I do consider myself not to be the most ignorant person on the planet, culture wise, but it still gave me a lot of very interesting insights that I didn’t really actively consider or realize before. I think that’s a very good accomplishment, and you should definitely read this book if you’re interested in the origins of culture and the resilience and diversity of it.
I do consider myself not to be the most ignorant person on the planet, culture wise, but it still gave me a lot of very interesting insights that I didn’t really actively consider or realize before. I think that’s a very good accomplishment, and you should definitely read this book if you’re interested in the origins of culture and the resilience and diversity of it.
August 14, 2023
A journey, this book. I have always liked Michael Wood's TV programmes and regarded him as an excellent communicator.
Witten from TV scripts, as he says, he selects Early Civilisations to work through, one by one.
Certainly the most affecting is the final chapter on the Barbarian West, which draws together aspects of the wisdom, thought, philosophy and religion of many of these early civilisations as a mirror to how the West has conducted itself in contact with peoples it has come into contact with.
I won't spoil the conclusions by summarising them here. Nor will I debate this approach and view of history, as some have in their reviews.
Suffice to say, this is a good read if early history of world civilisations interests you and you are curious.
Witten from TV scripts, as he says, he selects Early Civilisations to work through, one by one.
Certainly the most affecting is the final chapter on the Barbarian West, which draws together aspects of the wisdom, thought, philosophy and religion of many of these early civilisations as a mirror to how the West has conducted itself in contact with peoples it has come into contact with.
I won't spoil the conclusions by summarising them here. Nor will I debate this approach and view of history, as some have in their reviews.
Suffice to say, this is a good read if early history of world civilisations interests you and you are curious.
September 24, 2023
Grāmata ļauj salīdzināt, mūsdienu, rietumu vērtības ar citām vēsturiski dižajām civilizāciju vērtībām. Iesaku tiem, kas pēc Homo Sapiens izlasīšanas grib padziļināti un nedaudz savādāka autora viedokli salīdzināt minētos faktus.
March 9, 2025
Interesting facts about the first civilisations: Sumer, India, China, Egypt, and Meso-America. It’s a mix of overview and personal summary but very well executed. Due to its short length, depth and more than superficial context are missing.
September 23, 2018
Nice compact chapters on human history. Good for general revision reading.
August 22, 2023
So far I've found this book to be a fascinating
November 29, 2023
Not worth the time.
January 28, 2019
It's clear the author knows his stuff but the writing just isn't engaging. I wanted to feel immersed in those first civilisations, to understand what it was like to live in those early towns and cities. Instead, I felt like I was reading a research paper from a historian.
Not bad, just not for me.
Not bad, just not for me.
April 21, 2018
I thought this might be a same-old, same-old archaeological book, but it was a more unique, longitudinal look at civilizations with a real focus on how religious beliefs shaped society. "Gilgamesh, what you seek you will never find. For when the Gods created Man,they let death be his lot, eternal life they withheld. Let your every day be full of joy, love the child that holds your hand, let your wife delight in your embrace, for these along are the concerns of humanity." Quite good and quite refreshing reading.
October 14, 2016
This is an interesting and well-illustrated book about the first urban civilizations that flourished in ancient Mesopotamia (Iraq), Egypt, China, and the Americas. There is much reverence given to the people, their culture; art & architecture, scientific advancements, and society. It is fascinating to gage how much modern society owes to these forerunners. There is some speculation but the book holds together well.
July 2, 2011
I love Michael wood and the way he teaches and explains. He loves history and the ancient past and that comes through so well in this. Fabulous. A really good introduction to these civilisations.
August 25, 2016
Vague. Lacks focus. I preferred Ancient World by Richard Mills but that book doesn't cover any of the non-Western civilizations such as China, India or the America's.
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