Fiction, Children's, History and Reference: Our Pick of the Best Books to Buy in 2010
The publishing industry – like every sector in this recession-hit climate – is feeling the pinch. Two publishers known for their history titles went bust last year, though one (White Star) is being rejuvenated under new ownership. Cuts to university research budgets are likely to result in fewer tomes being commissioned by academic presses, but the resulting fall in book numbers will take a while to filter through to the market. The big publishers will keep publishing – albeit more selectively – but it's the smaller publishers (many of whom are responsible for some of the more original and imaginative works) that are at risk of not just cutting their budgets, but of going to the wall altogether.
Despite all this, there are still hundreds of ancient history-based books – of all genres – set for publication in 2010. History is hot in publishing thanks partly to the likes of Mary Beard, Brian Fagan, Harry Sidebottom and Robert Harris, who have helped take the ancient world mainstream. Egypt, as ever, is in fashion, Rome is hot, and historical novels centred on Rome are even hotter. But there are also lots of more obscure titles covering quirkier subjects to keep anyone interested in the ancient world more than amused and amazed as 2010 ticks by.
Here are just a few of books to look out for on HK during 2010 – we'll be adding hundreds of others to the Publications section of the site as they become available.
Historical Fiction
Dan Brown may have towered over the fiction aisles of 2009 with his Lost Symbol (featuring the much-debated circumpunct), but 2010 is the year for the rest of the world's historical novelists to get a piece of the reading light. Ransom: A Novel is Australian author David Malouf's long-awaited 'reimagination' of one of the most famous passages in literature – Achilles’ slaughter and desecration of Hector, and Priam’s attempt to ransom his son’s body in Homer’s The Iliad. Another historical fiction novel inspired by Ancient Greece is Katharine Beutner's Alcestis, which is billed as a "poetic and vividly imagined debut". For a more 'modern' historical novel based around the sites of Ancient Egypt, see The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger. It's based on Lucie Duff Gordon's Letters From Egypt.
The Roman Empire
AD 410: The Year That Shook Rome by Sam Moorhead and David Stuttard is set to be the biggest release of the year from the British Museum Press. Published to coincide with the 1600th anniversary of the sacking of Rome by the Goths, and of the departure of the Romans from Britain, the book explores the chain of events that led to the fall of the empire. Imperial folly, court intrigue, heroism and cowardice – you couldn't make this stuff up. For Rome: The Autobiography, Jon E. Lewis collated more than 150 personal letters, memoirs and official reports from every the Empire. His sources include written accounts of Caesars, slaves, generals and poets on major battles. Covered off are 'How to keep a slave' by Cato the Elder; 'The Life of a Roman Gentleman', by Pliny the Younger; 'Gang Warfare in Rome', by Cicero; 'A Chariot Fight', by Julius Caesar; and 'On Going to bed with Cleopatra', by Mark Antony. A more general but no less worthy introduction to the Empire is offered by the respected history writer Joan Alcock in Life In Ancient Rome. Alcock provides a social history of Rome, but also draws on examples of Roman life from other areas of the Empire. The book is an accessible account of the social and economic history of Rome which, like Alcock's previous books, is based on both archaeological and historical sources.
For a more specialised text on Rome, there are no shortage of options. Caesar's Druids: An Ancient Priesthood also draws on historical testimonies. Ancient chroniclers, including Julius Caesar himself, made the Druids and their sacred rituals infamous throughout the Western world. In this work, Miranda Aldhouse-Green shows that the Druids' day-to-day lives were far less lurid and much more significant than previously acknowledged. Aldhouse-Green argues that Druids were a highly complex, intellectual, and sophisticated group whose influence transcended religion and reached into the realms of secular power and politics. Druids were not just priests, but also judges, healers, scientists, and power brokers.
Two new releases look at the role of women in the ancient world. The First Ladies of Rome by Annelise Freisenbruch, meanwhile, paints a detailed historical picture of the women born or married into the house of the Caesars. Resisting Rome: The Woman Who Defied an Empire by Nicki Howarth Pollard, meanwhile, looks at the women who wielded power, threatened the stability of the Empire and, in some cases, dared to lead their own troops into battle against the mighty legions. From the Illyrian pirate queen Teuta in the third century BC to the Arab warrior queen Mavia in the fourth century AD, Howarth Pollard documents the women who used warfare, romantic relationships and their own blood to stand up to the might of Rome.
In The Crimes of Elagabalus, Martijn Icks looks at one of the bad boys of the Roman Empire, as well as one of its least documented emperors. Elagabalus (also the inspiration for Alfred Duggan's Family Favourites) was a sexually-depraved and eccentric hedonist who in his short reign made unprecedented changes to religion and defied all taboos. An oriental boy-priest from Syria, he was just a teenager when he was elevated to power in 218 CE and placed the sun god El-Gabal at the head of the established Roman pantheon. He engaged in orgiastic rituals, took male and female lovers, wore feminine dress and prostituted himself in taverns and inside the imperial palace. Icks paints a vivid picture of one of Rome's most colourful figures, and charts his legacy.
Lovers of art books, meanwhile, would do well to check out Southern Frontiers: A Journey Across The Roman Empire, a photography book by Don McCullin that explores the fringes of the Roman empire. The book is divided into two parts, 'The Levant' includes the ruins of Baalbek in Lebanon, Palmyra in Syria and Jirash in Jordan; 'The Moghreb' covers North Africa, showcasing Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, where he documents the great ruins of Leptis Magna.
For more modern discussion on ancient Rome, go no further than Why America is Not a New Rome by Vaclav Smil. This original and thought-provoking work promises to be both controversial and challenging. It tackles the very meaning of 'empire', and draws comparisons – and studies the differences – between modern-day America and ancient Rome. Anyone analysing a modern power like America would do well to also check out Empires in World History: The Power and Politics of Indifference by Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper. It's a Princeton University Press title that promises "a fresh approach to understanding the impact of empires on the past and present".
Greece
Cattle were essential to Greek communal life through religious sacrifice and dietary consumption. They were also pivotal in mythology: gods and heroes stole cattle, expected sacrifices of cattle, and punished those who failed to provide them. In The Cattle of the Sun, Jeremy McInerney explores why cows mattered to the Greeks, how they came to be a key element in Greek thought and behaviour, and how the Greeks exploited the symbolic value of cattle as a way of structuring social and economic relations.
The new edition of Exploring the World of the Ancient Greeks reveals how the Greek culture developed and adapted from Paleolithic times on, and how they interacted, both peaceably and otherwise, with the surrounding cultures: Minoans, Carians, Phoenicians, Lydians, Persians and Romans. A new edition of Mary Beard's The Parthenon is also scheduled for release by Profile Books.
The Land of the Pharaohs
In The Illustrated Guide to the Luxor Museum of Ancient Art and the Nubia Museum of Aswan, Janice Kamrin provides visitors and armchair travellers with a comprehensive, full-colour guide to some of Egypt's most fascinating museums. Dancing for Hathor: Women in Ancient Egypt by Carolyn Graves-Brown, curator at the Egypt Centre, University of Wales Swansea, uses funerary remains, tomb paintings, architecture and textual evidence to explore the lives of women in Egypt from goddesses and queens to women as the 'vessels of creation'.
The prolific Egyptologist Zahi Hawass – barely a year goes by without a bookshelf of new titles carrying his name – realeases his much publicised (and extraordinarily expensive) limited edition A Secret Voyage: Love, Magic and Mysteries in the Realm of the Pharaohs. HK contributor Charlotte Booth is also working on a new book, The Nile and its People: 7000 Years of Egyptian History, set to be published this year by The History Press.
The Zodiac of Paris by Jed Z. Buchwald and Diane Greco Josefowicz is a study of the Dendera zodiac, an ancient bas-relief temple ceiling adorned with mysterious symbols of the stars and planets. It was first discovered by the French during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, and quickly provoked a controversy between scientists and theologians. Brought to Paris in 1821 and ultimately installed in the Louvre (where it can still be seen today), the zodiac appeared to depict the night-time sky from a time predating the Biblical creation, and therefore cast doubt on religious truth. Jed Z. Buchwald and Diane Greco Josefowicz give a comprehensive account of this incredible archaeological find and its role in disputes over science and faith.
Britain
A new edition of Prehistoric Britain, Timothy C Darvill's acclaimed history for Routledge World Archaeology is due in 2010. The book examines the development of human societies in Britain from earliest times to the Roman conquest of AD 43. Roman Britain: A New History by Guy de la Bédoyère, meanwhile, is billed as a "lively, authoritative account of a crucial period in Britain's history". If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge by Stonehenge Riverside Project head Mike Parker Pearson and Marc Aronson is a thorough but accessible exploration of Britain's most famous ancient site.
Alexander the Great
There is a swathe of Alexander the Great books scheduled for release in 2010. Alexander the Great: Lessons from History's Undefeated General by Bill Yenne looks at Alexander's cultural and political legacy, and his military prowess. Alexander the Great and His Empire: A Short Introduction is the first publication in English of Pierre Briant's classic short history of Alexander's conquest of the Persian empire. It's acknowledged as the only book (in any language) that sets the rise of Alexander's empire within the broad context of ancient Near Eastern history under Achaemenid Persian rule, as well as against Alexander's Macedonian background. For this translation, Briant has written a new foreword and conclusion, updated the main text and the bibliography, and added an appendix in which he assesses the state of Alexander historiography and suggests some directions for future research.
Responses to Oliver Stone's Alexander: Film, History, and Cultural Studies, edited by Paul Cartledge and Fiona Rose Greenland, also takes an alternative look at Alexander. It brings together scholars in Macedonian and Greek history, Persian culture, film studies, classical literature, and archaeology – including some who were advisors for the film – and includes an afterword by Oliver Stone discussing the challenges he faced in putting Alexander's life on the big screen. The contributors scrutinise Stone's project, and consider such questions as 'Can a film about Alexander be both entertaining and historically sound?' and 'How do the goals of screenwriters and directors differ from those of historians?'
Anyone interested in film and the ancient world should also see Gideon Nisbet' Rome on Film, an all encompassing anthology of critical articles on the development of the study of films about ancient Rome. Articles are arranged chronologically, and trace Rome on film from its origins up to the present day, with particular emphasis on receptions of Imperial Rome on Hollywood film.
Beliefs and Religion
The acclaimed The Roman Catholic Church: An Illustrated History by Edward Norman makes the transition from hardback to paperback without losing any its lavish illustrations. To beliefs of other kinds, Embracing the Darkness: A Cultural History of Witchcraft by John Callow brings the twilight world into focus, and looks at the 3,000-year-old history of the supernatural and black magic. Follow the Shaman's Call: An Ancient Path for Modern Lives by Mike Williams is an engaging, hands-on guide that aims to teach readers "how to transform their increasingly busy and stressful lives by following the ancient shamanic path of their ancestors". Ghost Hunting: A Surviviors's Guide by John Fraser is a a practical guide to ghost hunting. It follows in the footsteps of Pliny the Younger, who was one of the first to write about ghost-hunting more than 2,000 years ago. If you've ever wondered how to organise your own ghost hunt, a list of essential equipment and a step-by-step guide to choosing your ideal spooky location is also included.
Other Histories
Syracuse, City of Legends: A Glory of Sicily by Jeremy Dummett is the first modern historical guide to Syracuse. In a similar vein to The Monuments of Syria: A Guide by Ross Burns, Syracuse, City of Legends carries detailed descriptions of the principal monuments from each period in the city's life, explaining their physical location as well as their historical context.
Ancient Vietnam: History and Archaeology by Anne-Valerie Schweyer presents the history of Vietnam from the 6th to 15th centuries, highlighting the clashes between the Chinese and Indian civilisations, the two dominant influences on modern Vietnam. A New History of Shinto, meanwhile, is an accessible guide to the development of Japan’s indigenous religion from ancient times. It includes studies of the various shrines, myths, and rituals of pre–Shinto worship, and examines the processes by which they were interpreted and merged into the notion of Shinto that exists in Japan today.
Rhetorics of the Americas: 3114 BCE to 2012 CE, edited by Damián Baca, Victor Villanueva, offers glimpses of what indigenous rhetorics from the Pre-Columbian Americas might have looked like and how their influences remain. The reader is invited to recognise “the invention of the Americas”. This book's authors hope to create "new lines of inquiry into language use within the Americas and the legacies of genocide, conquest, and cultural survival". Native America: A History by Michael Leroy Oberg focuses on 11 native communities in all parts of the United States, including the Mohegans, the Cherokee, the Powhatans, the Dakota Sioux, and the Pueblos, whose experiences encapsulate the principal themes and developments in Native American history.
In Writing Ancient History: An Introduction to Classical Historiography, Luke Pitcher offers the first comprehensive introduction to historiography in antiquity on the market. Another market-leader is The Worldwide History of Beads: Ancient, Ethnic, Contemporary by Lois Sherr Dubin, which has been the definitive guide for bead lovers, collectors and scholars since it was originally published in 1987 as The History of Beads.
And there's always pirates. In ancient times Thracians, Cilicians and Illyrians terrorised traders in the Mediterranean, while the Barbary pirates of North Africa instilled fear wherever they went from the Holy Lands to the coast of Ireland. It was not until the age of Discovery, when ships began to cross the Atlantic carrying unimaginable riches from the New World that the traditional image of the buccaneering pirate was created. A Brief History of Pirates & Buccaneers covers off all this and more.
Rock Art
In Rock Art of India, Erwin Neumayer presents an overview of rock art in India: visual survivals from the many layered Indian history, including the late Stone Age and later Chalcolithic periods. The book covers a vast terrain, from Ladakh and other Himalayan locations, to central India (including the Vindhyas, the Satpuras, and the Chhota Nagpur Plateau), to the southern Deccan and Sri Lanka regions where Neumayer has worked extensively. The book comes with a companion CD featuring Neumayer's drawings from all major rock art sites discussed. Prehistoric Rock Art: Polemics and Progress promises to be "a richly illustrated overview of prehistoric rock art and cave art from around the world" by Paul Bahn, one of the world's leading authorities on rock art. Changing Pictures: Rock Art Traditions and Visions in the Northernmost Europe follows a workshop held at Sweden's University of Kalmar (now Linnaeus University) in 2008. The aim was to provide a forum for rock art researchers from different parts of northern Europe to discuss traditional as well as current interpretative trends within rock art research.
For the Kids
If you were exploring in the Ice Age, would you be able to recognise the tracks of a sabre tooth tiger, the droppings of a woolly rhinoceros or the call of the Giant Deer? If not, The Ice Age Tracker’s Guide by Adrian Lister is for you (and/or your offspring). Vivid illustrations are accompanied by notes on size, body shape fur, food, behaviour and the sort of habitat in which you might have found each animal. The Big Picture Book of Human Civilisation by John Lonh uses words and pictures to map tthe last 20,000 years of human history. Read about the first sculptures and paintings, early farming techniques and new hunting methods, the earliest cities, temples and pyramids, and the taming of cats and dogs. Find out who the great Arab thinkers of the Middle Ages were and when bubonic plague struck.
The Prophet from Ephesus by Caroline Lawrence is a historical detective story for children set in AD 81. It's part of Lawrence's Roman Mysteries series. The British Museum Pocket Explorer African Civilisations, meanwhile, is the latest in the British Museum's 'Pocket Explorer' series for kids. It travels to all corners of Africa to explore the continent's history and cultures.
Encyclopedias and Reference Books
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome is a seven-volume set edited by Michael Gagarin. It's billed as an an "accessible guide and a comprehensive overview of the major cultures of the classical Mediterranean world – Greek, or Hellenistic, and Roman – from the Bronze Age to the fifth century CE". Or you could wait until 2011 for the next edition of The Encyclopedia of Ancient History by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, and Andrew Erskine, WileyBlackwell's 13-volume set. For something a little less exhaustive there's The Edinburgh Companion to Ancient Greece and Rome by Edward Bispham, Thomas Harrison, and Brian Sparkes.
Worlds at War
Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History by John David Lewis shows how victorious military commanders have achieved long-term peace by identifying the core of the enemy's support for a war. Lewis examines the Greco-Persian and Theban wars, the Second Punic War and Aurelian's wars to reunify Rome, as well as more modern conquests including the American Civil War and the Second World War. Makers of Ancient Strategy: From the Persian Wars to the Fall of Rome, edited by Victor Davis Hanson, is a prequel to the now-classic Makers of Modern Strategy. Victor Davis Hanson gathers prominent thinkers to explore key facets of warfare, strategy, and foreign policy, and demonstrates that the military thinking and policies of the ancient Greeks and Romans remain relevant for understanding conflict in the modern world.
Museums & Libraries
The cameras are going behind the scenes of the Natural History Museum in London in 2010 for a major new BBC TV series. Published to tie in with the BBC series, Museum of Life features all the themes and events from the series, as well as stories about the museum and the scientific research it is involved in. Less high-profile is Past, Present & Future: The Collection of Classical & Near Eastern Antiquities in the National Museum of Denmark, which marks the collection's 150th anniversary. It covers not only the stories of the ancient cultures featured at the museum, but also tells of historic ties between Denmark and the Mediterranean countries over the centuries. In The Idea of the Library in the Ancient World, Yun Lee Too argues that the ancient library was a complex institution with many different forms. In antiquity, the library's functions were numerous: as an instrument of power, of memory; as an articulation of a political ideal; as an art gallery; as a place for sociality. Anyone with an interest in the history of museums and libraries would do well to also check out From the Modernist Annex: American Women Writers in Museums and Libraries. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the majority of women were forced to seek their education outside the walls of American universities. Many turned to museums and libraries, for their own enlightenment, for formal education, and also for their careers. From the Modernist Annex: American Women Writers in Museums and Libraries offers new ways of understanding writers who emerged from from this period, as well as the distribution of knowledge, and the complicated place of women in modern institutions.
Everything Else
Wisdom in the Ancient World by Trevor Curnow is the first book to bring the different aspects of the study of ancient wisdom together and present it as a subject in its own right. The Archaeology of Measurement by Iain Morley and Colin Renfrew explores the archaeological evidence for the development of measuring activities in ancient societies. Featuring contributions from internationally renowned scholars, it analyses the relationships between measurement, economy, architecture, symbolism, time, cosmology, ritual, and religion among prehistoric and other early societies. Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans by the prolific Brian Fagan travels back in time to uncover the history of the first anatomically modern human beings.
Kitchen kings and queens should love The Pharaoh's Kitchen: Recipes from Ancient Egypt's Enduring Food Traditions by Magda Mehdawy and Amr Hussein – 100 recipes from the ancient world direct to your kitchen. Magda Mehdawy is Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Nigella Lawson all rolled into one when it comes to Egyptian cookery, so this is set to be the Egyptian food release of the year. Meanwhile, Andrew Dalby, co-author of The Classical Cookbook is also back with Tastes of Byzantium: The Cuisine of a Legendary Empire. Dalby reveals what was eaten in the court of the Eastern Roman Empire and how it was cooked. He fuses the spices of the Romans with the seafood and simple local food of the Aegean and Greek worlds, and also describes the sights and smells of Constantinople (Istanbul) and its marketplaces. The book is aimed at food-lovers, armchair travellers and historians alike.
Still catching up with last year's books? Make sure you have Heritage Key's pick of the top titles of 2009 on your shelves.
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