Walls : a history of civilization in blood and brick /
Material type: TextPublisher: New York, NY : Scribner, [2018]Copyright date: �2018Edition: First Scribner hardcover editionDescription: xii, 292 pages : maps ; 24 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781501172700
- 1501172700
- 9781501172717
- 1501172719
- Walls, a history of civilization in blood and brick
- 909 23
- UG400 .W35 2018
- HIS039000 | HIS037000 | ARC005000 | HIS054000
Item type | Current library | Home library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard Loan | Coeur d'Alene Library Adult Nonfiction | Coeur d'Alene Library | Book | 909 FRYE (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 50610021834903 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
In Walls historian David Frye tells the epic story of history's greatest manmade barriers, from ancient times to the present. It is a haunting and frequently eye-opening saga--one that reveals a startling link between what we build and how we live.
With Frye as our raconteur-guide, we journey back to a time before barriers of brick and stone even existed--to an era in which nomadic tribes vied for scarce resources, and each man was bred to a life of struggle. Ultimately, those same men would create edifices of mud, brick, and stone, and with them effectively divide humanity: on one side were those the walls protected; on the other, those the walls kept out.
The stars of this narrative are the walls themselves--rising up in places as ancient and exotic as Mesopotamia, Babylon, Greece, China, Rome, Mongolia, Afghanistan, the lower Mississippi and even Central America. As we journey across time and place, we discover a hidden, thousand-mile-long wall in Asia's steppes; learn of bizarre Spartan rituals; watch Mongol chieftains lead their miles-long hordes; witness the epic siege of Constantinople; chill at the fate of French explorers; marvel at the folly of the Maginot Line; tense at the gathering crisis in Cold War Berlin; gape at Hollywood's gated royalty; and contemplate the wall mania of our own era.
A masterpiece of historical recovery and preeminent storytelling, Walls is alternately evocative, amusing, chilling, and deeply insightful as it gradually reveals the startling ways that barriers have affected our psyches. The questions this book summons are both intriguing and profound: Did walls make civilization possible? And can we live without them?
"August 2018"--Title page verso.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-275) and index.
Introduction : A wall against the wasteland -- Part one. Builders and barbarians. Midwife to civilization : wall builders at the dawn of history : the ancient Near East, 2500-500 BC -- To wall or not to wall? : Greece, 600-338 BC -- "Cries of pain and sadness" : China, 214 BC -- Wallers and warriors : life outside the walls : Eurasia, 2000 BC-AD 1800 -- Part two. The great age of walls. Prologue to the great age of walls : Alexander's gates : timeless folklore -- Walls connect Eurasia : China and central Asia, c. 100 BC -- Hadrian's walls : the Roman Empire, AD 117-38 -- Paradise lost : The Roman Empire, c. AD 300 -- Defenseless behind walls : The Roman and Byzantine Empires, AD 400-600 -- Cycles of walls and despots : China, AD 280-1600 -- Walls and the Apocalypse : Western and Central Asia, AD 500-1300 -- Part three. The world in transition. The horrible bombard : Constantinople, AD 1453 -- Beyond the pale : Ireland, Scotland, and the Russian Empire, AD 1494-c. 1800 -- Fort Brokenheart : South, Central, and North America, prehistory-AD 1800 -- Part four. A clash of symbols. The last battles : China and France, 1933-40 -- "A hell of a lot better than a war" : Berlin, 1961-89 -- Epilogue : "Love your neighbor, but don't pull down your hedge" : Earth, 1990-present.
"A survey of walls throughout history and their role in shaping society."--Provided by publisher.
From ancient times to the present, mankind has built barriers: against the elements, against predatory animals, against other humans. These edifices of mud, brick, and stone circle the globe. Frye examines the history of walls, and reveals the startling ways that barriers have affected our psyches. He questions: Did walls make civilization possible? And can we live without them? -- adapted from jacket.
"With esteemed historian David Frye as our raconteur-guide in Walls, which Publishers Weekly praises as 'informative, relevant, and thought-provoking,' we journey back to a time before barriers of brick and stone even existed--to an era in which nomadic tribes vied for scarce resources, and each man was bred to a life of struggle. Ultimately, those same men would create edifices of mud, brick, and stone, and with them effectively divide humanity: on one side were those the walls protected; on the other, those the walls kept out. The stars of this narrative are the walls themselves--rising up in places as ancient and exotic as Mesopotamia, Babylon, Greece, China, Rome, Mongolia, Afghanistan, the lower Mississippi, and even Central America. As we journey across time and place, we discover a hidden, thousand-mile-long wall in Asia's steppes; learn of bizarre Spartan rituals; watch Mongol chieftains lead their miles-long hordes; witness the epic siege of Constantinople; chill at the fate of French explorers; marvel at the folly of the Maginot Line; tense at the gathering crisis in Cold War Berlin; gape at Hollywood's gated royalty; and contemplate the wall mania of our own era. Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as 'provocative, well-written, and--with walls rising everywhere on the planet--timely,' Walls gradually reveals the startling ways that barriers have affected our psyches. The questions this book summons are both intriguing and profound: Did walls make civilization possible? And can we live without them? Find out in this masterpiece of historical recovery and preeminent storytelling." -- Provided by publisher
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Selected Timeline (p. xi)
- Introduction: A Wall against the Wasteland (p. 1)
- Part 1 Builders and Barbarians
- Midwife to Civilization: Wall Builders at the Dawn of History: The Ancient Near East, 2500-500 BC (p. 15)
- To Wall or Not to Wall?: Greece, 600-338 BC (p. 33)
- "Cries of Pain and Sadness": China, 214 BC (p. 47)
- Wallers and Warriors: Life outside the Walls: Eurasia, 2000 BC-AD l800 (p. 63)
- Part 2 The Great Age of Walls
- Prologue to the Great Age of Walls: Alexander's Gates: Timeless Folklore (p. 77)
- Walls Connect Eurasia: China and Central Asia, C. 100 BC (p. 81)
- Hadrian's Walls: The Roman Empire, Ad 117-38 (p. 93)
- Paradise Lost: The Roman Empire, C. Ad 300 (p. 103)
- Defenseless behind Walls: The Roman And Byzantine Empires, AD 400-600 (p. 115)
- Cycles of Walls and Despots: China, Ad 280-1600 (p. 131)
- Walls and the Apocalypse: Western And Central Asia, Ad 500-1300 (p. 145)
- Part 3 The World in Transition
- The Horrible Bombard: Constantinople, Ad 1453 (p. 163)
- Beyond the Pale: Ireland, Scotland, And The Russian Empire, AD 1494-C. 1800 (p. 177)
- Fort Brokenheart: South, Central, And North America, Prehistory-AD 1800 (p. 187)
- Part 4 A Clash of Symbols
- The Last Battles: China and France, 1933-40 (p. 201)
- "A Hell of a Lot Better Than a War": Berlin, 1961-89 (p. 213)
- Epilogue: "Love Your Neighbor, but Don't Pull Down Your Hedge": Earth, 1990-Present (p. 231)
- Acknowledgments (p. 249)
- Notes (p. 251)
- Index (p. 277)
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
No human invention has had a greater effect on civilization than defensive walls, states Frye (history, Eastern Connecticut State Univ.). The safety they afforded those who lived within them allowed the flourishing of what we think of as civilized culture-but with the result that such cultures began to lose their martial skills and readiness for conflict, relying on specially trained armies and mercenaries for protection and pouring a staggering amount of money, effort, and lives their construction and repair. Following a rough chronology, Frye illustrates how advancing conflicts and technologies shifted walls from occasional to necessary to essentially symbolic, with the structures of Europe, the Near and Middle East, and Asia receiving the most attention: walled Athens vs. unwalled Sparta; Hadrian's Wall in England; the various Long Walls and Great Wall in China; Constantinople's walls and their destruction by cannon. A single-chapter hop touching on barriers in the Americas and concluding chapters on the Maginot Line, the Berlin Wall, and the various borders of today complete the volume. VERDICT Though occasionally guilty of stretching facts to enhance his points, Frye on the whole delivers a lively popular history of an oft-overlooked element in the development of human society.-Kathleen McCallister, Tulane Univ., New Orleans © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Publishers Weekly Review
Frye, a teacher of ancient and medieval history, offers an accessible history of walls and wall builders. Starting at the 4,000-year-old Great Wall of Shulgi, in Sumer, Frye-writing in a breezy and often humorous style (he calls Hadrian "the old drama queen")-skips across history to ancient Greek walls, Hadrian's Wall in England, the border walls of China, France's Maginot Line, the Berlin Wall, and the proliferating walls in 21st-century Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Early societies, Frye writes, built walls as a security measure against the barbarism of raiding tribes from the Eurasian steppe (here described in needlessly graphic detail). He notes that the walls constructed by the Chinese Empire paradoxically fostered early globalization by imparting to travelers and merchants the safety that made the Silk Road possible, but also encouraged isolation that left an opening for Western empires to conquer the rest of the world. And he considers the psychological impact of 21st-century walls on both migrants and refugees and the wall-builders trying to turn them away. Readers will find Frye's rumination-on the reasons walls exist and will continue to exist, what they can and cannot do, and their contribution to the growth of civilization-informative, relevant, and thought-provoking. Agent: Peter Steinberg, Foundry Literary + Media. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.CHOICE Review
This history of border/city walls, which Frye (ancient and medieval history, Eastern Connecticut State Univ.) defines as physical barriers designed to separate and protect those who construct them, is both fascinating and disappointing. The coverage is daring and comprehensive: the author discusses walls from as early as 4,000 BCE, and though he brings the story to the present he concentrates on premodern structures. This reviewer cannot think of an area of the world excluded from the discussion. Frye's perspective is fresh, and he makes the reader think deeply about why civilizations build walls, the effectiveness of walls, and their advantages and drawbacks. Although the endnotes clearly indicate the scholarship behind the book, the narrative is directed toward a general audience, which is a boon for nonspecialists but unfortunate for scholars. For example, in discussing the walls protecting Constantinople, the author refers to the "blue" and "green" chariot factions as "sport hooligans." Frye's overarching thesis is that "wall builders" gradually became enervated and pacific (the price of civilization) in contradistinction to those living outside the walls. This idea deserves a full development and discussion, rather than being occasionally trotted out. The absence of a proper bibliography is regrettable. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates; general readers. --Robert T. Ingoglia, St.Thomas Aquinas CollegeBooklist Review
Border walls are as old as civilization itself, and, whether made of brick, stone, or earth, their ruins appear all over the world. To the modern eye, writes professor of ancient and medieval history Frye (Indians into Mexicans, 1996), they have similar characteristics: obscure barriers, colorful nicknames, and nearly always facing desolate wastelands. He spans thousands of years of history to learn more about them, from the oldest known wall Syria's Tres Long Mur (French for very long wall) and the Great Wall of China to the Cold War era's Berlin Wall and the Second Age of Walls in the twenty-first century. Insights abound in every chapter, like how heavily fortified Athens contrasted with borderless but bellicose Sparta in ancient Greece, and how Middle Ages Ireland inspired the phrase beyond the pale. The book is helpfully peppered with maps and a time line for historical orientation and packs an impressive amount of scholarship and storytelling into its relatively compact perimeter. Walls could add a level of context to the current heated discussion of walls in the U.S.--Chad Comello Copyright 2018 BooklistKirkus Book Review
A sturdy historical tour of walls and their buildersand their discontents as well.Build bridges, not walls. It's a slogan, writes Frye (Ancient and Middle Eastern History/Eastern Connecticut State Univ.), "designed to give military historians fits." Bridges, after all, have military purposes: to get across moats and earthworks and to ford rivers into enemy territory. Walls, on the other hand, make peacehistory offers plenty of examples, he writes, to show that "the sense of security created by walls freed more and more males from the requirement of serving as warriors." Indeed, by Frye's account, walls are hallmarks of civilization, if ones that are easily thwarted. One of his examples is the Tres Long Mur, a defensive structure built more than 4,000 years ago, stretching across the Syrian desert and shielding some of the world's oldest towns from marauders from the steppes beyond. There are mysteries associated with the ruins, just as there are with the Great Wall of China, another of Frye's examplesand one that proves, readily, that where walls go up, people find ways to get around and over them. The author's pointed case study of Hadrian's Wall shows that it may not have been a defensive success, but that does not mean it didn't have a defensive purpose, as some scholars have recently argued. As he writes, wittily, "there is little to be gained from rationalizing an irrational past." Another defensive failure is the Maginot Line, which became more symbolic than practical in an age of modern tanks; on the reverse side are spectacular successes, such as the great walls of Constantinople, which shielded the city from siege by as many as 200,000 soldiers of the caliphate, "one of the greatest turning points in history." Walls have many purposes, he concludes, and it is rather ironic that the matter of walls is often as divisive as a wall itself.A provocative, well-written, andwith walls rising everywhere on the planettimely study. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.Author notes provided by Syndetics
David Frye received his PhD from Duke University and currently teaches ancient and medieval history at Eastern Connecticut State University. The author of Walls , he has participated in several international archeological digs and has contributed to Military History, MHQ, Archeological Odyssey, and McSweeney's.There are no comments on this title.