Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2023 -

Although the ancestors of all human beings alive today lived in Africa, the continent and the history of its peoples occupy remarkably little space in histories of the ancient world. Ancient Africa goes a long way toward rectifying that. Originating with his 2019 Nathan I. Huggins lectures, Ehret (Univ. of California, Los Angeles), the doyen of ancient African historiography, draws on archaeological, ethnographic, linguistic, and genetic evidence to reconstruct the history of Africa from c. 68,000 BCE to late antiquity. Focusing on social and economic developments, he treats the history of ancient Africa and its significance for world history. Following the introduction, chapters consider African firsts in ceramic technology and metallurgy, early African agriculture and its spread to Asia, independent development of cities and commerce in Africa, and the African roots of Egyptian civilization. A final chapter summarizes the work's conclusions. Highlights include Ehret's illuminating discussions of women's active role in early technological and agricultural development and the African elements of archaic Egyptian culture. This masterful, accessible summary of a brilliant historian's life's work will appeal to everyone interested in ancient world history.Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.

"Pre-Islamic Arabia is a rarely explored subject." So begins Grasso's wonderful exploration of a neglected area of late antiquity studies. It is this rarity that makes this work immensely important. Grasso's deft use of a variety of sources--comprising literary texts, religious scripture, epigraphy, papyrology, and archaeological evidence--is extraordinary and illustrates both the challenge of the topic and the author's mastery of it. Her research itself unites a disparate collection of scholarly fields in pursuit of a sense of the region; this hitherto scattered approach has hindered previous scholarly focus. Grasso (Catholic Univ. of America) is at her strongest when describing and assessing the impact of the surrounding empires and religions on the cultural, economic, and political developments that arose there and led to the emergence of an Arab communal identity, Arabic as a distinct language, and Islam as a foundational faith. Her framework of analysis explores how Arab elites connected with these political and religious entities, setting the stage for an Islamic Arab identity to ignite the spread of its culture. This work is vital for the multiple disciplines that study their insular portions of the Arab story.Summing Up: Essential. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

One need look no further than Konig's The Folds of Olympus for what is surely the most readable, comprehensive account of mountains in ancient Greek and Roman culture. Based on firsthand experience, wide-ranging research, and profound insights, the book takes readers on a journey up slopes, atop summits, and across vistas of mountain geographies around the Mediterranean and beyond. Konig (Univ. of St Andrews, UK) treats mountains as metaphysical phenomena and sites of religious experience in part 1 ("Mountains and the Divine"), as objects of aesthetic and scientific wonder in part 2 ("Mountain Vision"), as players in the strategic topography of warfare and resistance in part 3 ("Mountain Conquest"), and as places of habitation for select communities and individuals in part 4 ("Living in the Mountains"). He renders a fuller picture of ancient (and contemporary) landscapes, which are incomplete without mountains. Despite their location at the margins of urbane culture and urban society, mountains prove to be central to the conception and constituency of the Greco-Roman world. Sixteen chapters, some presented as case studies, include a map; a few well-chosen illustrations, including photographs by the author; notes; and two indexes--one of ancient sources and one more general.Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers through faculty.