I am a history junkie and had been meaning to get my hands on a good history of Iraq/Mesopotamia for a while. This one does the trick.

Trying to fit a 5000 year history into ~600 pages is a daunting task and, invariably, some topics will get covered more than others. However, it satisfied my curiosity and I really liked the book. Just remember, this is a "starter" history book.

While I am quite a history nerd, this era and region has always been elusive to me. The author has the daunting task of laying out the history of Mesopotamia in all it's complexities.

I will say that while this is a great introductory read to someone who only knows the broad strokes of Mesopotamian history, this won't be something a versed scholar will want. As long as you know that it's an overview of over 5,000 years of history, I think this will be an enjoyable read!

This is an extremely daunting task that the author embarked on. To write a 5,000 year history of Iraq, with all the complexities and nuances is no easy task. The author has done a great job of doing this and providing the reader the knowledge needed to explore these major events in more detail.

This isn't a book for me.

Who this book IS for: the person with an interest in history who doesn't have much specific knowledge about the history of Mesopotamia/Iraq, and is after a broad-sweep understanding of that area and how its history has had an effect on its neighbours. You're not too worried about historiography and questioning sources at this time, you just want to know the main players and events and issues. If that's you, this is likely to be a very good book for you! I'm glad it exists.

That's not me, though. I already have a broad-sweep understanding of the area. I'm also impatient these days with writers who seem to take ancient sources largely at their word, with only the occasional "here's how these two differ." My other main issue is that this is basically a Great Man history. I understand that the sources for the time do often concentrate on the dudes, and that skipping from Cyrus to Alexander is the straightforward/easy/exciting option. But for me, this is also the boring option, when it's not made more complex by questioning or further exploring the issues.

So: I read 1/4 of the book before deciding I wouldn't continue. Overall, it's well written and accessible; the author is a journalist, rather than an academic historian, and he reflects on his personal experiences in reporting from Iraq, which generally adds to the accessibility. Whether this book works for you will depend on what sort of history you're looking for.

This book takes on a big challenge in condensing 5000 years of history into 600 page, and for the most part does a good job of it. Though some things felt a bit surface level, that’s bound to happen with so much time to cover. I do think the multiple chapters on the founding of Islam and it’s early years could have been condensed significantly as very little of it took place in Mesopotamia, and I find it highly unlikely that anyone picking up this book doesn’t already know that story quite well.

Another excellent addition to the many history books on the Middle East. Easy to read, and well written, this book both teaches and conjures up images of the past

Bartle Bull has expertly taken several thousand years of history and has contained it within a remarkably accessible narrative. Not once did I feel overwhelmed or tired, as has been the case with other historical reads - all the while I was deeply immersed and happily absorbing all that he had to share on a region that has been so central to humanity in a sweeping myriad of ways since the dawn of civilization.

This is a fantastic both that goes into the history of a region that more people should learn more about. It's well written and I learnt a lot.