Oxford First Ancient History

I was skeptical ordering this book at first, believing that the price was rather high for a paperback. However, this has turned out to be one of the best books I have bought for our homeschool. It covers the ancient period very well, with many pictures and diagrams which follow along nicely with the material (not just as an afterthought). There is a wealth of information, but not so much as to overwhelm my youngest child. Some of the book is written in a narrative style, making it much more engaging for the children. I wish there was one of these books for each historical period!

I bought this book for my 10 year old son last year, as he is very interested in history. It was such a big hit that I am buying it for two of his cousins this year. It has a chatty, informal tone, which combines with lots of illustrations and great research to deliver a lot of knowledge painlessly. He has read it repeatedly and it should continue to be useful for many years.

M 12 year old picked up this book to read from the library and his interest in it lasted all summer. We had to check it out of the library 3 times! It is due back again to the library today so I am finally going to purchase it for him as he seems to keep referring back to it and has a real interest in continuing to research it. This is something he has done on his own and not for any class. It must be a good book to keep him interested in it for going on 5 months! The sections on Greek and Roman armies seem to capture his imagination the most.

This past summer I searched up and down for an ancient history text age appropriate for middle schoolers. Voila! Not surprisingly, Oxford University, or its tendrils, provides this beautifully conceived book that not only contains a slew of fine, colorful illustrations by Connolly, but also perfectly fits a traditional curriculum tied to the development of western civilization. The find was certainly fortuitous. The text of this ancient history, however, is often awkward, and not simply because Burrell writes in a myopically and ultimately insensitive Anglocentric style. The British tone and jargon are fine and offer many "teachable moments," (case in point: "There were no lifts, of course - nor could poor people (Romans) afford expensive glazed windows. You didn't need them in a sticky Roman summer but when the weather got worse, the only way to keep the flat's temperature up and the rain out was to close the wooden shutters.") That's all fine and good -- lifts, glazing, and flats -- the problem arises from some dodgy grammar and bizarre verb shifts that make reading the text, even for adults, an occasional strain. My students have even pointed out many typos, the result obviously of the same shoddiness that characterizes British newspapers, which though written with great erudition, often seem scrawled in haste and edited by lager louts with licensing hours at the forefront of the brain. Errors aside, the book is a wonderful introduction to ancient history with a special, and completely justified, emphasis on the Greeks and Romans. Where would we be without them? The paperback edition, though seemingly robust, doesn't hold up well to middle school abuse. American backpacks wreck havoc on the poor thing. Many of our copies will be totally shot by year's end -- a pox on Oxford University Press for the decision to cease publication of the hardback edition. Argghh! Must say that I've learned a tremendous amount from reading this colorful, informative book and have not encountered its rival for adolescents.