Caroline Blunden and Mark Elvin, Cultural Atlas of China (1983), contains general geographic, ethnographic, and historical information about China through the ages, as well as many maps and illustrations. Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Anne Walthall, and James B. Palais, East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History (2006); Conrad Schirokauer, A Brief History of Chinese Civilization (1991); and John King Fairbank, China: A New History (1992), are general histories that offer useful chapters on early China. Valerie Hansen, The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600 (2000), devotes substantial attention to ancient China and emphasizes China’s connections with other cultures, while Edward L. Shaughnessy and Michael Loewe, eds., The Cambridge History of Ancient China (1998), treats the subject in great depth. Nicola Di Cosmo, Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History (2002), sets the development of Chinese civilization in the broader context of interactions with nomadic neighbors.
Jessica Rawson, Ancient China: Art and Archaeology (1980), Kwang-chih Chang, The Archaeology of Ancient China, 4th ed. (1986), and Ronald G. Knapp, China’s Walled Cities (2000), emphasize archaeological evidence. W. Thomas Chase, Ancient Chinese Bronze Art: Casting the Precious Sacral Vessel (1991), contains a brief but useful discussion of the importance of bronzes in ancient China, as well as a detailed discussion of bronzecasting techniques. Robert Temple, The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention (1986), explores many aspects of Chinese technology, using a division into general topics such as agriculture, engineering, and medicine. Anne Behnke Kinney, “Women in Ancient China,” in Women's Roles in Ancient Civilizations: A Reference Guide, ed. Bella Vivante (1999), and Patricia Ebrey, “Women, Marriage, and the Family in Chinese History,” in Heritage of China: Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilization, ed. Paul S. Ropp (1990), address the very limited evidence for women in early China. Michael Loewe and Carmen Blacker, Oracles and Divination (1981), addresses practices in China and other ancient civilizations. Benjamin I. Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China (1985), is a broad introduction to early Chinese ethical and spiritual concepts. Comparative approaches to the world-views and essential cultural features of ancient China and ancient Greece have led to novel perspectives on both civilizations, starting with David N. Keightley, “Early Civilization in China: Reflections on How It Became Chinese,” in Heritage of China: Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilization, ed. Paul S. Ropp (1990), 15-54, and carried further by G. E. R. Lloyd, The Ambitions of Curiosity: Understanding the World in Ancient Greece and China (2002), and the studies by various scholars in Steven Shankman and Stephen W. Durrant, eds., Early China/Ancient Greece: Thinking Through Comparisons (2002).
Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom, Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1 (2nd ed., 1999), is a superb collection of translated excerpts from a wide range of sources, accompanied by perceptive introductions, while Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook (2nd ed., 1993) offers briefer selections. William E. Nienhauser, The Grand Scribe’s Records, vol. 1 (1994), contains substantial excerpts on early, Shang, and Zhou China from the Han-era history of Sima Qian. Arthur Waley has translated all the rich material in The Book of Songs (1996). Simon Leys, The Analects of Confucius (1997), provides a translation of and a commentary on this fundamental text.
After a long period of scholarly neglect, the study of ancient Nubia is now receiving considerable attention. Most recent are Donald B. Redford, From Slave to Pharaoh: The Black Experience of Ancient Egypt (2004); and David N. Edwards, The Nubian Past: An Archaeology of the Sudan (2004). David O’Connor, Ancient Nubia: Egypt’s Rival in Africa (1993); Joyce L. Haynes, Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of Africa (1992); Karl-Heinz Priese, The Gold of Meroe (1993); P L. Shinnie, Ancient Nubia (1996); Derek A. Welsby, The Kingdom of Kush: The Napatan and Meroitic Empires (1996); and Timothy Kendall, Kerma and the Kingdom of Kush, 2500-1500 B. C.: The Archaeological Discovery of an Ancient Nubian Empire (1997), all reflect the new interest of major museums in the art and artifacts of this society. Robert Morkot, “Egypt and Nubia,” in Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History, ed. Susan E. Alcock (2001), examines the political dimension of Egyptian domination, while John H. Taylor, Egypt and Nubia (1991), also emphasizes the fruitful interaction of the Egyptian and Nubian cultures.
Simon James, The World of the Celts (1993), is a concise, well-illustrated introduction to ancient Celtic civilization. Fuller treatments can be found in Barry W. Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts (1997), and Peter Ellis, The Celtic Empire: The First Millennium of Celtic History, c. 1000 B. C.-51 A. D. (1990). Miranda J. Green, The Celtic World (1995), is a large and comprehensive collection of articles on many aspects of Celtic civilization. Philip Freeman, War, Women, and Druids: Eyewitness Accounts and Early Reports on the Ancient Celts (2002), collects the ancient textual evidence. John Haywood, Atlas of the Celtic World (2001), is a useful reference. Simon James, The Atlantic Celts: Ancient People or Modern Invention (1999), reflects the current scholarly emphasis on articulating the important differences between Celtic groups and deconstructing the modern “myth” of a monolithic Celtic identity. On Celtic religion and mythology see Bernhard Maier, Dictionary of Celtic Religion and Culture (1997); James MacKillop, Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (1998); Proinsias Mac Cana, Celtic Mythology (1983); Paul R. Lonigan, The Druids: Priests of the Ancient Celts (1996); and two books by Miranda Green: The Gods of the Celts (1986) and Celtic Myths (1993). Peter Ellis, Celtic Women: Women in Celtic Society and Literature (1996), collects and evaluates the evidence for women’s roles. Celtic art is covered by Ruth and Vincent Megaw, Celtic Art: From Its Beginnings to the Book of Kells (1989), and I. M. Stead, Celtic Art (1985). For translations and brief discussion of Celtic legends see Patrick K. Ford, The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales (1977), and Jeffrey Gantz, Early Irish Myths and Sagas (1981).
A number of useful books provide an introduction to the early Americas. In Prehistory of the Americas (1987) Stuart Fiedel provides an excellent summary of the early history of the Western
Hemisphere. Early Man in the New World, ed. Richard Shutler, Jr. (1983), is also a useful general work. Atlas of Ancient America (1986), by Michael Coe, Elizabeth P Benson, and Dean R. Snow, offers a compendium of maps and information. George Kubler, The Art and Architecture of Ancient America: The Mexican, Maya, and Andean Peoples (1984), is an essential tool, though dated.
David Carrasco, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures: The Civilizations of Mexico and Central America (2001), and Alan Knight, Mexico: From the Beginning to the Spanish Conquest (2002), reflect the most recent work on the Olmec. For greater depth see Michael Coe, The Olmec World (1996), and Jacques Soustelle, The Olmecs: The Oldest Civilization in Mexico (1984). Mary Ellen Miller, The Art of Mesoamer-ica:From Olmec to Aztec (1996), focuses on art and architecture, while Elizabeth P. Benson and Beatriz de la Fuente, eds., Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico (1996), is the annotated catalogue of an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. Richard W. Keatinge, ed., Peruvian Prehistory (1988), provides a helpful introduction to the scholarship on Andean societies. The most useful summary of recent research on Chavi'n is Richard L. Burger, Chavin and the Origins of Andean Civilization (1992).
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1997), tackles the difficult question of why technological development occurred at different times and took different paths of development in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
World History
