Books by J M Cook
“Cook trained as a classicist and knows his classical sources really well but, at the same time, throughout the book he is doing things that no other ancient historian was doing at the time. He was using cuneiform evidence. He was looking at Persian art and Persian architecture. He had travelled to Iran. It is quite clear that he loved the place…if there’s a book I would like to reintroduce it’s this one. I would love to see it republished and remarketed to get the kudos I think it deserves. I give my students sections of it to read because it’s a very straight, clear narrative history, which is what I like. It’s very readable and beautifully written, as well. He was in his prime in the 1950s and he has the beautiful rhetorical style of that era. It’s an elegant read.” Read more...
The best books on The Achaemenid Persian Empire
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Historian
Interviews where books by J M Cook were recommended
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1
The Persian Empire
by J M Cook -
2
Discovering Cyrus: a Persian Conqueror Astride the Ancient World
by Reza Zaghamee -
3
The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period
by Amélie Kuhrt -
4
The Palace of Darius at Susa: The Great Royal Residence of Achaemenid Persia
by Jean Perrot -
5
Creation
by Gore Vidal
The best books on The Achaemenid Persian Empire, recommended by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
The best books on The Achaemenid Persian Empire, recommended by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
At the height of its greatness, the Achaemenid Persian Empire was the largest empire the world had ever known. Too often it is given merely a villainous walk-on part in the heroic history of classical Greece. Here, historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones explains why that needs correcting, looks at its cultural achievements and discusses why the first Persian empire is worth studying in its own right and on its own terms.
