This ambitious effort reads like textbook excerpts striving to be docudrama segments.
A broad account of the Ming dynasty’s maritime expeditions, led by a legendary admiral.
A dramatized standoff between pirates in the Strait of Malacca and the Treasure Fleet commanded by Zheng He (1371-1433) launches this work. Referencing numerous sources, the choppy narrative alternately plunges into geopolitical depths and zigzags among points of view, inundating readers with details that are difficult to digest without guidance or visual aids such as comparative timelines. “China was a nation divided against itself….Ethnic Chinese, Mongols, and Uighur tribespeople fought,” and similar declarations suggest an Orientalist-tinged lens on group identities, nationhood, and territoriality. The result: a hodgepodge of human geography mixed with economic calculations and strategic maneuvers in the name of Zhu Di (the self-styled Yongle emperor) that can be dizzying for readers navigating with no context or little prior knowledge. Certain chronicles, along with highlights of ship construction and nautical technologies, are vivid and engaging while scant maps, diagrams, and text panels do double duty in illustrating salient facts. In failing to center Zheng He—a multifaith diplomat of mixed ancestry who knew Arabic and prioritized linguistic and cultural knowledge—Bergreen and Fray sacrifice a cogent storytelling approach. Casting too wide a net, this volume flounders in its attempt to convey an intriguing chapter in anthropology and world history for young English-language readers.
This ambitious effort reads like textbook excerpts striving to be docudrama segments. (bibliography, notes on sources, index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-62672-122-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Logically pointing out that the American cowboy archetype didn’t spring up from nowhere, Sandler, author of Cowboys (1994) and other volumes in the superficial, if luxuriously illustrated, “Library of Congress Book” series, looks back over 400 years of cattle tending in North America. His coverage ranges from the livestock carried on Columbus’s second voyage to today’s herding-by-helicopter operations. Here, too, the generous array of dramatic early prints, paintings, and photos are more likely to capture readers’ imaginations than the generality-ridden text. But among his vague comments about the characters, values, and culture passed by Mexican vaqueros to later arrivals from the Eastern US, Sadler intersperses nods to the gauchos, llaneros, and other South American “cowmen,” plus the paniolos of Hawaii, and the renowned African-American cowboys. He also decries the role film and popular literature have played in suppressing the vaqueros’ place in the history of the American West. He tackles an uncommon topic, and will broaden the historical perspective of many young cowboy fans, but his glance at modern vaqueros seems to stop at this country’s borders. Young readers will get a far more detailed, vivid picture of vaquero life and work from the cowboy classics in his annotated bibliography. (Notes, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6019-7
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
An introduction to ancient Egypt and the Pharaohs buried in the Valley of the Kings. The authors begin with how archaeologist Howard Carter found the tomb of King Tut, then move back 3,000 years to the time of Thutmosis I, who built the first tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Finally they describe the building of the tomb of a later Pharaoh, Ramses II. The backward-forward narration is not always easy to follow, and the authors attribute emotions to the Pharaohs without citation. For example, “Thutmosis III was furious [with Hatshepsut]. He was especially annoyed that she planned to be buried in KV 20, the tomb of her father.” Since both these people lived 3,500 years ago, speculation on who was furious or annoyed should be used with extreme caution. And the tangled intrigue of Egyptian royalty is not easily sorted out in so brief a work. Throughout, though, there are spectacular photographs of ancient Egyptian artifacts, monuments, tomb paintings, jewels, and death masks that will appeal to young viewers. The photographs of the exposed mummies of Ramses II, King Tut, and Seti I are compelling. More useful for the hauntingly beautiful photos than the text. (brief bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7922-7223-4
Page Count: 64
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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