The Land of Canaan

by Isaac Asimov

Traces the history of the Fertile Crescent, the area stretching between the Persian Gulf and central Israel, from the New Stone Age to the Roman conquest. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395125723
• ISBN13: 9780395125724
• Release Date: January 1971
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Beginning at the beginning

Asimov always liked to begin at the beginning of everything. This book will help you to understand what is going on in the middle east and also how foolish it all is.

Good introduction to this troubled and strategic land

What is historically known as the "Land of Canaan" has been, and still is, one of the main crossroads of human History, Religion, and Philosophy. Asimov tells us the complex yet fascinating story, from the first known human traces, found in Jerico circa 7,800 BC, until the total control of the Roman Empire, in 135 AD. We read the stories of the Cananeans, Phillistines, Arameans, Hebrews, Jews, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, etc., and the successive dominations of Egyptians, Hicsians, Assyrians, Caldeans, Persians, Greeks and Romans. It is written with the trademarks of Asimov's history: fast pace, sense of humor, precision, anlysis and criticism. Although later discoveries, very important in the last decades, may have modified or slightly altered some of Asimov's hypotheses or data, I think it is a wonderful introduction to more serious and specializaed study of this crucial region of the world. For non-specialists, particularly, it is a good book, since the writing is easy and the tone is non-academic. Recommended.