I find it refreshing that there are more and more cases of a revisionist approach to world history. This book is a fine example of this trend. The author is looking at rarely considered regions and peoples, enriching our popular worldview of ancient times. Recommended to all history buffs.

Thanks to the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book

We see ancient civilizations through the eyes of Greek and Roman writers, including their observations and biased inaccuracies. Some cultures have (had) an air of superiority such as the ancient Egyptians, Athenians and Romans. When reading about such civilizations, my mind usually doesn't go to the Rome/China or the Greek/India connections as described here. Author Owen Rees describes them with beautiful insight. Other topics include migration, trade, military outposts, citizenship to foreigners, monuments, religions, boundaries, cultural adaptation, storage pits, fortification, Nubia flooding, the important of the Jezreel Valley, Olbia, Scythians, the "Vix Krater", Vindolanda Tablets, and Megiddo. But there is so much more.

Excerpts of personal letters written thousands of years ago added such a fresh and personal touch. People are people everywhere! Rees' copious research shows...and it taught me a lot, especially about the adaptation of civilizations of others while keeping the best parts of their own. Something we know but may not dive into as we should. I like the reminder to look beyond boundaries into the periphery which is where one learns so much more. The world is beyond those countries considered central. Each has influence and so much to offer. I delve into the history of each country I visit and enjoy exploring the ties with the rest of the world.

Thank you to the publishers for the e-ARC!

In The Far Edges of the Known World, Owen Rees carefully and empathetically examines the edges of the “great” ancient empires (primarily Egypt, Greece, and Rome). Rees’ reach is multicultural and trans-historical, from pre-history to the Middle Ages.

The massive undertaking pays off, makes sense, and enlightens the reader. The information is shared in approachable tidbits; while there is some level of background knowledge assumed, Rees gently guides the reader through complex historical thinking. He examines his vast sources attentively, drawing readers attentions to the biases in the historical record, further sharpening his points that the “far edges” of our knowledge are worth learning. While there are sections on pre-history, and they are interesting, I felt that the narrative was at its best when there were concrete historical figures to ground the story. This is an enlightening expansion for any ancient history fan!

What an incredibly well-researched and well-organized book Rees has created!

The Far Edges of the Known World is jammed packed with short, but interesting stories of less commonly known cities that existed (Rees would argue, thrived) outside the reaches of classical civilization. It is evident that Rees has spent a lot of time researching each of the cities he discusses individually. Although this book is information-dense, I don't feel that this resulted in the narrative feeling dry or heavy. Instead, I feel that Rees did a good job of inserting commentary at regular intervals to offset quantity of information provided. And, while Rees' traditional topics from other books he's authored lean more towards Ancient Greece, this book does not focus on that area alone. Rather, it does a good job discussing locations throughout Europe and Asia.

Overall, I learned a lot of interesting information about each of the cities. However, this is one of the few books I would re-read just to pick up on new or additional information I may have missed on the first read. I would recommend this book to any history lover out there!

Thanks to NetGalley, Owen Rees and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to WW Norton & Co and Net Galley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book.

3.5 stars

This book has a great premise and a lot of great information. It contains a nice collection of chapters highlighting sites/cities outside of traditional Classical focus. The material in each site is well consolidated and did a good job of hitting the high points and interesting details without devolving into unnecessary tangents.

The writing style is a little dusty and academic for a popular book, but I didn't feel it would be inaccessible to a lay reader.

My main complaint about the work is that most of the sites discussed are heavily framed by their interactions with the traditional classical world. The author does acknowledge that bias and explains that it is heavily impacted by the sources available. I did feel though that archaeological evidence could have been weighted more heavily in these chapters. And perhaps the locations under discussion could have included more sites that weren't so reliant on textual sources. But I'm an archaeologist so I'm always biased there.

Overall, very interesting and worth the read. This book will definitely give the reader a broader scope of the ancient world and teach all of us new things.

A fascinating look at cities and cultures often over looked by mainstream history. However, most of the book focuses on cities and cultures on the borders of the Greco-Roman-Egyptian world like Buhen and the fortresses on Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. The furthest away from Europe this book gets is Vietnam. This should really be called the Near Edges of the Known World.

Mainly as a result of having an Asian Studies focus as an undergraduate, I didn't come into this book with a specifically Greco-Roman-centric view of the ancient world that needed to be shed. As a result, "The Far Edges of the Known World" did not end up being the eye-opening experience for me that I think was intended by the author, and I foresee many other readers having a very similar experience depending on factors like their own respective educational experiences, or even just based on where they were born and raised or where their ancestors originated from.

That being said, I do feel that this will be effective read for those who do heavily view the past as a time and place where civilization was far more Mediterranean-centric and homogeneous than it actually ever was. Also, even though I wasn’t awakened from any oversimplified historic viewpoints, I still found this to be an interesting reading experience overall. While I already come in with a decent sense of just how far more intermixed, interconnected, and diverse the past was than what is commonly thought, I never refuse any opportunity to read about any new examples of these historical realities, and thoroughly enjoyed the fresh array provided here by Rees.

Owen Rees offers readers a grand journey around the fringes of the well-known Ancient World civilizations of Egypt, Rome, and Greece, cultures who regarded most outsiders as barbarians or blockheaded troglodytes. But who were these maligned peoples living on the outskirts of empires, were they actual cannibalistic savages or the mere victims of historical discrimination?

Common sense would answer that people are people (brave of me to say, I know) no matter where they live or what culture they partake of. In *The Far Edges of the Known World*, Rees shines a light on ten such sites operating in the peripheries of "civilization", showing that there were many complex multicultural societies of which it is a crime that there is a dearth of historical scholarship. From Sub-Saharan Africa to travelling up the Nile deltas, through Israel and above the Black Sea to the nomadic peoples of Ukraine, to Pakistan, Vietnam, and Roman Britain, evidence is gathered in support of these locations being key stimulants in the spread of trade, language, and religion.

While the ideas in this book are accessible to the beginner history reader, the subject matter itself outpaces common knowledge and may prove confusing to one not well-versed in Ancient World geography and timelines. Rees often glosses over contextual remarks and he plays fast and loose with his chronology, making it often difficult to place the relevance of the data he is presenting.

For the more advanced student of history this book may prove an insightful spotlight into lesser studied societies, yet the thesis may be too simple for a non-historian to endure pages of Scythian dental records or Ethiopian religious tablets.

A history book that zooms out from the usual focus on Greeks and Romans, to look at some of the groups on the periphery of the world. What sources there are get a masterful treatment from Rees. It's well-written for anyone to be able to pick up, and it will challenge and expand your world view.