127. Life in the Ancient World by Bart Winer

Life in the Ancient World by Bart Winer. Illustrated by Steele Savage

Rating: (5/5)

(US) - (Canada)

1961, Random House,  213 pgs +index
Age: 8+

"A vivid and fascinating account of how people lived from day to day in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Iran, Crete, Greece and Rome."

Purchased a copy from a used book sale.

This is an absolutely wonderful history book for young people and I highly recommend it for Christian homeschoolers.  They just don't write them like this anymore. Written from a point of view which naturally assumes that God created the world, the Bible is a true record of history and the reader is a Christian; it interweaves Biblical history with other ancient history seamlessly from Mesopotamia to the Roman emperor Constantine.  The book begins with these sentences: ""And they said ... let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven."  So begins the Bible's story of the Tower of Babel.  This tower wasn't just a legend..." and ends with this sentence: "But the empire of Christ with its center in Rome, the "eternal city," went on to conquer the Western world."  Refreshingly written in a storyteller's narrative the book is interesting and informative.  Published by mainstream Random House, the book is not overly Christian but will appeal to today's Christian looking for a history book which does not take the "His" out of HIS-Story.  Of course, ancient history is ancient but some of the geographical information is outdated and modern discoveries would need to be supplemented with other material but this is a delightful overview of the anicient world.  I've read a lot of such books over the years and this one is going to be a keeper on my shelves.  A caution that some may find objection with the illustrations which do show nudity when it is applicable.  Men are shown from a profile revealing one b*tt cheek and women are shown topless but seldom have visible n*pples.  There is a combination between illustrations and actual archival photographs.  The copyright page also boasts that the book was fact checked by a professor at Columbia University.  A delightful find to be read aloud to youngers or read by up to early teens.