Our book starts off with different Ancient Empires throughout the Bronze Age and how they are transitioning into the Iron Age over time. They then start to focus on the Roman Empire and the Chinese’s as well as their weaknesses over time. Afterwards they then talk about Genghis Khan for a little or “Chinggis” which is his real name and how they started defeating China. Next in the book was about the Crusades and how both Christians as well as the Muslims were in constant struggle for more followers plus territories with later being about European struggle for power. Then they start talking about how guns were developed like the flintlock and how cannons became easier to use in battle with the Mughal Empire suffering heavily from this plus the Ottoman Empire gaining tons of land because of this. They then talk about how colonization in the Indies wasn’t going well and how they eventually had to abandon them to locals. Finally, it talks about the Manchu tribes from Mongolia and how they destroyed China’s system of government taking control in the aftermath as well as them crushing any rebellions in the process.

Overall the book was okay in my opinion but probably one of the worst Non-Fiction books I’ve ever read just in general. The book was written well but it was way to slow paced for someone like me so it was just so boring reading it. I also understand that the author was trying to give you as many facts as possible but at a certain point it becomes boring and I think this book crossed that line between factual and boring. Though the one good thing about it being overly factual is that I feel I learned a lot more than I knew before. Also, I’d say my favorite culture had to be the Manchu tribes who conquered China since I felt that was the best written section by him and it seemed the most interesting. Overall this book definitely would not be in my list of top Non-Fiction but it will maybe become a better book to me if I reread it a few times. ( )