The Persian Empire

This book was written for the Cultures of the Past series, and is intended for juvenile readers. For being so small (69 pages, including the glossary), it does succeed in giving an overview of its subject. The book covers the Persians from prehistory, through the conquest by the Arabs in 642. It also describes their culture, covering such things as architecture, food and clothing, religion, and much else.This book is not perfect; indeed, calling Salamis a Greek colony on the island of Cyprus is a glaring error. However, this book has many excellent pictures, and its layout does make it a very good introduction to the subject. Overall, I do recommend this book.