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| The Black Sea: The Birthplace of Civilisation and Barbarism | 
 enlarge | Author: Neal Ascherson
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: £8.99
Buy New: £3.58
You Save: £5.41 (60%)
New (21) from £3.58
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 134499
Media: Paperback
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 009952046X
EAN: 9780099520467
ASIN: 009952046X
Publication Date: October 4, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. Shipped from UK Mainland. Delivery is usually 2 - 3 working days from order by Royal Mail, International Delivery is by Airmail.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Still Fresh October 16, 2008
I have just re-read this book, which was updated and republished in 2007. It is still as fresh and lively as it was when it first came out and is really the best and most readable starting point for anyone interested in this region.
It is true that the book does not deal so much with Turkey, apart from an excellent section about Trebizond (Trabzon)or Romania and Bulgaria, but it more than makes up for it with strong reportage from elsewhere, for example, with a chapter on Abkhazia.
After this book, anyone interested in moving to the next, more academic stage, should read Charles King's The Black Sea: A History.
 Unbalanced but often fascinating September 4, 2002
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
First, the bad stuff - this book should really be called "What the Poles and Russians got up to north of the Black Sea" since this is what it's mainly about. There is very little about Turkey or the Turks, nothing about Romania or Bulgaria. In spite of this, I enjoyed the book a lot. It is full of fascinating facts and stories. The narrative is built around the break up of the Soviet Union but ranges across a vast area of history to give some interesting sidelights on the politics of nationalism. My favourite bits were his discussions of the Skythians, Sarmatians & "Amazons" (see also Howard Reid's "Arthur the dragon king" for related material). Also includes a very interesting & provocative discussion of the romantic myths surrounding the cossacks.
One of the greatest pieces of non-ficiton ever written November 7, 2001
4 out of 15 found this review helpful
...Neal Ascherson's Black Sea is one of the most fascinating and brilliant books of any description I've ever come across. Five stars aren't enough. Ten stars might do it justice. It's stimulating, it's fascinating, it's enlightening. A truly mesmerising book. If you haven't read it yet, read it tomorrow.
missing July 18, 2001
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
It is not possible to write about the Black Sea and its history just by slightly mentioning the Turkish coast.The recent archeological findings, the mythology, the cultures that have passed, the different ethnicities that live on the Turkish Black Sea coast are worth mentioning in a book that claims to be about the Black Sea. The author gives his reasons for not doing so but I do not find it sufficient.
A superb combination of history and travel writing. May 1, 2001
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Neal Ascherson is sadly a rarity these days - a journalist who can move easily from the confines of newspaper writing to the broader sweep of historiography and travel writing. Yet his skill as a journalist is obviously of great help to him as he pares back what is obviously a tremendous amount of research to give us this lucid and almost racy account of the history of the Black Sea - an era which stretches from the time of the ancient Greeks, right up to present-day fish quotas imposed on the Turks. Ascherson is no cold observer of the human fate, but becomes wrapped up in the Black Sea stories of both past and present, and thus tells us stories of Polish poets and the plight of the once ubiquitous sturgeon with equal passion. A superb read.
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