Walls: A History of Civilization in Blood and Brick (Gift for History Buffs) - Softcover

Frye, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1501172719 ISBN 13: 9781501172717

Publisher: Scribner Book Company, 2019

Synopsis

"A lively popular history of an oft-overlooked element in the development of human society" (Library Journal)--walls--and a haunting and eye-opening saga that reveals a startling link between what we build and how we live.

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.

About this title

Review

"[Told] with eloquence and panache . . . [Frye] is enviably good at turning historical and archaeological evidence into vivid prose, and his writing is as clear as on any wall."
--Wall Street Journal

"[A] lively history."
--The New Yorker

"These are good stories and Frye tells them well...a timely and interesting book."
--Financial Times

"Insights abound in every chapter...The book is helpfully peppered with maps and a timeline 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."
--Booklist

"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."
--Publishers Weekly

"A sturdy historical tour of walls and their builders--and their discontents as well. Provocative, well-written, and--with walls rising everywhere on the planet--timely."
--Kirkus Reviews

"A lively popular history of an oft-overlooked element in the development of human society."
--Library Journal

"A colorful crash course in world history . . . insightful and entertaining, [Frye] offers a perspective for understanding the reemergence of these barriers today."
--Shelf Awareness

"I walked Hadrian's Wall as a teenager, ran some miles along China's Great Wall as a fit young man, stood transfixed in horrified awe beneath the Berlin Wall...I love stories of walls, and David Frye's marvelous book--timed to coincide with the building of yet another engagingly hateful structure on our southern frontier--was a perfect delight. A mur de force, indeed."
--Simon Winchester, New York Times bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman, Krakatoa, and The Map That Changed the World

"David Frye's Walls turns 5,000 years of history outside in. Instead of focusing on the centers of civilizations, he illuminates the boundaries where civilizations collide. From ancient Mesopotamia through Rome to the presidency of Donald Trump, Frye brilliantly crafts a unique view of history with valuable lessons for today."
--Jack Weatherford, New York Times bestselling author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

About the Author

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1501172719
• ISBN 13: 9781501172717
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304