This book is what I expected - short breezy biographical sketches of those the author felt made significant impacts on the history of the world. As with any book of this type one can argue about whether or not some of the individuals included made a more significant impact than some of those who were left out of the book. The style makes it an easy read, but the amount of people covered does not lead to a quick read.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants a once over lightly description of some of the individuals who made an impact on our world over time.

I received a free Kindle copy of Titans of History by Simon Sebag Montefiore courtesy of Net Galley  and Knopf Doubleday, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazonand my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as the description interested me and I enjoy reading about people who impacted history.  This is the first book I have read by the author.

I had extremely high hopes for Simon Sebag Montefiore. I had seen the rave reviews, heard the endless praise but unfortunately, as it always seems to be the case, the expectation did not match the reality. I think that comes down primarily to Montefiore’s choices of ‘titan'. I know, I know, I read the disclaimer at the beginning of the book - that he admits wholeheartedly that the historical figures chosen are influenced by his own bias, but I think we really do need to stop and examine them for a moment.
The fact of the matter that the profiles, as most compilations like this tend to be if they don’t have a specific focus on the marginalised and overlooked figures of history, have a very male, very white, very western focus. I mean, the Aztecs and the Incas are mentioned strictly in the biographies of the white men who enslaved, murdered, and inhabited their land. And then, Montefiore is like, "they-sacrificed-babies-so-its-okay". Um, no it’s not.
Because by wiping out an entire empire of people, you may not be sacrificing babies, but you sure are killing them.
Does titan equate to a massacring arseholes who forcibly marry the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of the people who they have defeated and like to carry out pickled heads in jars? I mean, that happened once but still, I think we know Montefiore’s answer to that question.
Because, according to him, it turns out that, to be remembered, all you have to do is massacre entire societies. So, guys, just so you know, if you want to be included in a book like this in two/three hundred years time, all you have to do kill some people and inflict some terror. I’m sure that none of your victims will mind, I mean, it’s all for the infamy, right? They’ll get it.

For a person that has an interest in all kinds of history I thought this book was a fun read. This book covers many different characters that played important parts in our past history. From modern, to medieval, to ancient history Simon Montefiore writes a few pages on many important faces during these interesting times. I enjoyed this book very much.

These descriptions are short, as is to be expected in a book encompassing so many historical figures. It was a little bit confusing that they were ordered by birth dates, rather than when they became famous, although I understand that there would be difficulties listing them that way, too. I think that this is a good way for older students to familiarize themselves with people from history.

This genre can always be criticised for missing key historical characters or being short on detail however I feel that a good balance has been achieved in this book. It is very well written and each historical summary does make you want to find out more. I would recommend it for a good overview of historical figures

I was very excited about this book but Sadly it disappointed. It all boils down to one issue: that the chapters are too short. I don’t feel I got much more information here than I could have got from an online encyclopaedia. The choices were good and well thought out and I have to say my 10 year old son enjoyed reading it. But for the adult reader I’m afraid it doesn’t work for me. The fact that the book is so western centric is also problematic for me.
Disappointing.
I was given a free ARC by NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

— DISCLAIMER: I received a free e-arc of this book via NetGalley - thank you to NetGalley and Vintage! All opinions expressed in this review are my own. I should also add that I am a trained historian and as such will likely be biased in reviewing a history book. —

When I first found out that I would be reviewing a book written by Simon Sebag Montefiore, I couldn’t contain my excitement, as back when I was a baby student and wrote my very first history paper for university, his book on Stalin and Molotov was one of my main sources and I really enjoyed it. But to be honest, I had a hard time with this book. I tried very hard to shut off my academic historian voice and keep in mind that it is intended to be a popular history book, however, I feel like some of the issues I had with it were intensified when considering that this would be read by people who might not have read anything else on this subject.

In the beginning, I felt like the choices were made well in respect to diversity, both gender and location, and I even found out about a couple of medieval women I need to read more on (sadly, women were much less prominent as the volume continued…). But as the book went on, these choices seemed more and more skewered to me. Less than half of the book is dedicated to ancient and medieval figures, leaving out many of those I believe are crucial, but so far, so good - I’m a medievalist and am biased, and most people don’t care about that time period (which is a shame!) so he might not have wanted to force it on them. However, while the Renaissance and the early modern period get slightly more attention, the last third of the book is solely 20th century. To me, that does not make much sense at all, as many of the important people of the twentieth century were resting on the shoulders of thinkers much earlier. But this issue can be put down to preference.

What makes me worry much more, is the fact that the book is incredibly western-centric. Most figures originate from Europe and North America, a bunch - maybe around 10% if we’re feeling generous - from Asia, and at most a handful for Africa and South America. In today’s xenophobic society, telling the average person that no one important came out of these large areas aids with the right’s nationalism and fear of difference. Right now, society needs a reminder that our western culture is not the only one of importance and that, in their core, humans are equal, no matter how they look or where they hail from.

A second point that worries me in respect to this being aimed at the public is the historical methodology that seems to be lacking in crucial points. There are no references - at least not in the review version I received - and there is a lack of critical commentary. This is something I especially noticed in the areas where my expertise lays - theories are presented as facts without critical analysis or any mention that they are theories. Furthermore, supposed quotes of the subjects of the chapters are taken as granted, without reference to how they made their way to us, which makes them untrustworthy. A good example for this is the medieval muslim ruler Saladin: Montefiore gives a supposed quote, but does not refer to where this originated. Given the context, I could well imagine the quote having come from a western chronicler of the crusades, intent on making his side look good. Perhaps I am overly worried by this, but I feel like such portrayals might prejudice readers, and give society a much more biased image.

And now, let’s end on a couple of ‘technical’ issues. First and foremost, the chapters were too short. Reading a Wikipedia article on the person in question might give a reader more information. Especially the earlier chapters amount only to very few pages. As I read the book on my kindle, it is hard to judge, but I feel like the later entries were much more detailed and longer than earlier ones. The second of these is that the people are organised by their year of birth. Especially in the twentieth century that makes for an interesting reading experience - Margaret Thatcher coming before Anne Frank, for example. I believe that it would have made more sense to organise the biographies by the years where a particular person had the most impact. This could easily have been done in the background and the portraits kept as they are now, making for a smoother reading experience.

I started this book with high expectations and initially I was totally drawn in, but as I read on I was disappointed with the brevity of the biographies with no depth to any of the "Titians". If the intention is to pique your curiosity then it failed as the entries were much too short and shallow. I usually read about an hour or two a night but with this book I could only manage half of that as the writing was very disjointed with facts but no insight into the characters. I would not recommend this book. I received an e-book from NetGalley in return for an unbiased review.

I would have gotten more out of Titans of History if I had just been handed a typed page of all the names included in the and then gone on to read the Wikipedia entry on each of them on my own. The short biographies are, of course, well written, but why anyone thought it would be a good idea to distill these people's lives into little more than three pages apiece is beyond me. It lacks depth, information, and consequently, interest.

Titans of History is the kind of book that will find itself relegated to bathroom reading material. It's interesting enough and gives its information in short, manageable chunks while allowing you to emerge with a fun factoid or two after you've finished.

A good introductory text but not so great if you're looking for any depth. You can get a lot of the same information on Wikipedia.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Titans of History is literally a chronological collection of abridged biographies averaging three pages per "titan". Three pages, really?

I have no idea how this format is suppose to provide any real insight into any person. The sad truth is that there is far more information available on Wikipedia and while not an accurate font of information, at least Wikipedia cites and references its sources.

A dull, insubstantial snapshot of our history as human beings on a planet that deserves far better.

The premise is a good one, but the biographies were very short, with not enough information. It may have been better if more information was given and maybe the book was divided into 2. It felt like there is more information via the various search engines available on the internet. The author gave a good effort. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

#TitansOfHistory #NetGalley #History #Heritage

A very interesting compilation of famous characters of the history around the world. This book can be a good choice for high school and college libraries.