Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is a can't miss read or gift for the history buff. Between 22,000 and 6000 years ago, 4 trans-Mediterranean civilizations can be traced to evolve from out of Neolithic enclaves and to grow into distinctive civilizations and then disappear without a word. 13,000 years ago these seafarers traversed and traded from one end of the Mediterranean to the other to leave their patterns. The symbols of the fifth civilization defies translation and the earliest Minoans advanced like none before and are then erased beyond our purview. Only in the 6th iteration and beginning just over 5000 years ago, can we begin to peek into the human mind through its words and remnants. Abulafia places evolving civilizations in the humbling context of space and time and to be considered as numbered days in humanity's progression. The Great Sea is written in 5 chronological parts from most ancient to present. The parts weave and intertwine the past to the next. The Great Sea has hosted the spectrum of human care takers and chaos. The Great Sea is a sweeping and compelling read that links the snippets of civilizations of one after the other. History has been well written on specific events and times, Peloponnesian and Punic Wars, the Crusades and Gallipoli and you might miss the far greater context that the Great Sea perspective provides. The Great Sea is a disciplined focus of the history of humanity in the context of the Mediterranean. Abulafia's discipline is evidenced that this history excludes the Mesopotamians and the early Egyptians until descendants emerge onto the Sea to attempt to contend. These other civilizations were river people and land people and they earn their place among the Great Sea-farers of this story. Political fabrications are irrelevant in the Great Sea. Geography and power alone rule the Great Sea. Colonies, outposts, and civilizations appear and disappear in this time machine. The patterns repeat over and over to the present day. Abulafia resists the temptation to extrapolate a future from the history and he doesn't need to. History repeats itself and so the reader is free to envision a future trajectory or tragedy. The feeling of continuity is very present. In 800 pages and 150 pages of notes, this is a massive addictive tale that can include an `all-nighter'. The reader is left to consider the temporal irrelevance and civilization of Minoans, Phoenician's, Carthaginians, Greek's, Roman's, Genovese ... the EU and Islam. Civilizations struggle mightily to rival the cadence of the socio-technical-economic demands of this continental junction which is the "Great Sea". The enjoyment in these reads is the relentless evolutions of civilization to possess a thing that can not be possessed for long. The nearest approximate read to compare with the Great Sea is the Durant's 11 volume "The Story of Civilization" and that's too much and not effective in conveying the story that Abulafia frames. I was struck that I've been to Malta, Crete and Cyprus and seen the remains of the most ancient Mediterranean civilization against the backdrop of the most modern and I quite missed imagining the story of everything that radiated out and in between. I've wandered among the strange Cyclopean remains in Malta, then the Cycladic places of Greece, without appreciating that Cycladic were the epoch distant successor of the Cyclopian. The time scales are hard to imagine. Abulafia does the best job I've seen in pulling it together. This is an important book and a must read. There's a good chance that the reader's perspectives might be adjusted ... it's a 5 star great read and a 'wow' that will stay with you. p.s. I have gone back after several other reviewers noted a disconnect in the maps. I read the book and not the Kindle which is getting some tough reviews. I have to say that I noted Abulafia had aligned adequately illustrated, narrative matching maps. The exclusion of political boundaries for modern reference differing to a focus on 'centers' is part of Abulafia's story. I was previously unaware of a Sardinian (proto-Basque?) contender (pg 120) and had to go to Wiki for a closer look. Abulafia's use of maps seems adequate.