I enjoyed reading this book. It was easy reading but since I know very little about this part of the world I had the pleasure of learning a great deal. In 200 pages the book covers from Sumer to Islam, about 4,000 years. There were some very good maps which included large area maps and maps of cities. There were also some interesting diagrams of smaller areas such as palace compounds. The book was chock full of pictures of ruins and different types of art works.
The book is listed at 12" by 9" and the big pages made me feel a little bit like a kid reading a grownup's book. That contributed to the fun factor.
I thought the rise of Sumer was very interesting. The change from sedentary culture to cosmopolitan civilization reminded me of some of the material in Guns, Germs and Steel. There were many different cultures which occupied the area. Babylonia grew to be a city of 50,000, the largest city in the world at the time. There were a series of empires in Persia ending with the Sassassians. The Romans fought the Parthians and the Sassassians. Alexander the Great's Hellenistic civilization thrived in parts of this area.
It did seem like some of the maps could have been better. There were place names referred to that I could not find on the maps. Learning light with lots of maps and pictures, what fun! Another good part is that I can read it again because I didn't learn everything in the book.

The publisher Checkmark Books is part of Facts on File. Facts on File publishes The Cultural Atlas of Ancient Mesopotamia and the Near East. That book is written at a higher level of scholarship and does not cover as lengthy a period. This book showed me how interesting the history of that area is. I will have my eye out for a good deal on the Cultural Atlas. ( )