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seshat59's review against another edition
3.0
3-3.5 stars
What Makes Civilization? is simultaneously a dense and incomplete book, great as an overview but imperfect for someone looking to deeply explore the growth of civilizations in this area.
Instead, Wengrow is providing a counterargument to two predecessors in the field. He argues what seems an obvious point: that civilizations don’t evolve in vacuums. Focusing on primarily Mesopotamia and Egypt, he asserts that specialization isn’t what drives civilization development, but trade. What follows is the exploration of regionalized culture and cross-regional economics. It’s a fascinating undertaking that left me wanting more detail, particularly about the Neolithic periods.
Part II is abbreviated and rather an unnecessary afterthought in which Wengrow attempts to bring relevancy to the West’s fascination with Assyriology and Egyptology, but leaving out the imperial and economic factors that have allowed archaeologists to exploit and work in such areas undercuts his arguments. Naturally, neoliberal republicanism isn’t perfect and isn’t the idealized, utopian government (particularly not as practiced in actuality), and we cannot look down or think is completely removed from those that have come before us.
What Makes Civilization? is simultaneously a dense and incomplete book, great as an overview but imperfect for someone looking to deeply explore the growth of civilizations in this area.
Instead, Wengrow is providing a counterargument to two predecessors in the field. He argues what seems an obvious point: that civilizations don’t evolve in vacuums. Focusing on primarily Mesopotamia and Egypt, he asserts that specialization isn’t what drives civilization development, but trade. What follows is the exploration of regionalized culture and cross-regional economics. It’s a fascinating undertaking that left me wanting more detail, particularly about the Neolithic periods.
Part II is abbreviated and rather an unnecessary afterthought in which Wengrow attempts to bring relevancy to the West’s fascination with Assyriology and Egyptology, but leaving out the imperial and economic factors that have allowed archaeologists to exploit and work in such areas undercuts his arguments. Naturally, neoliberal republicanism isn’t perfect and isn’t the idealized, utopian government (particularly not as practiced in actuality), and we cannot look down or think is completely removed from those that have come before us.
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