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stellamaris
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| Posted: March 19 2011 at 10:49am | IP Logged
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Over on this thread, we are discussing books we are reading currently in our homes. I mentioned we were reading A Picturesque Tale of Progress in our current study of Ancient Greece, and Eva asked me to compare these books to some other history options.
We chose to use this set because it really contained everything that was covered in all of the other texts I had on hand (e.g., the "Famous Men of..." series, Early Times:The Story of Ancient Greece, A Child's History of the World) but with better illustrations and more detail. Unfortunately, we have not used the other books that Eva mentions, so I can't compare, but I will offer a detailed review.
I see in looking over the Amazon site that this 9 Volume set is back in print. The set we have is old, copyright date 1935, so it is the older edition I shall be reviewing. I do not know if any changes have been made to update these books. I do know that last year when I checked the price of a complete 9-Volume older set, it was only $109, about the same as the $20+ they are charging for two volumes now.
This entire set covers the history of Western Civilization from the early evolution of man (which, I must say, we skipped, choosing instead to read the Genesis account) up through at least the Middle Ages (I am not at my other home now, so I don't have my complete set with me).
Each volume contains history, maps, and literature selections and is illustrated extensively with four-color pictures, many of which are reproductions of actually period artifacts. I think the best way to give you a complete picture is to describe the Ancient Greece volume I have on hand.
This Volume III of the set is 302 pages long with good size, clear type. Each page has one or more illustrations. The chapters are long and the topics covered are:
The Island of Crete
The Beginning of Greece
A Time of Settlement and Growth
The Threat of Persian Conquest
Days of Athenian Empire
Alexander Conquers the Eastern World
Hellenistic Eqypt
The are 6 colored maps, each about 1/2 or 1/3 of a page in size:
The Mediterranean World (1500 B.C.)
Greece at the Time of the Trojan War
The City-States of Greece
Greece and the Persian Empire
Athens, the Port of Piraeus, and the Long Walls
The Empire of Alexander the Great
A sampling of both black and white and four-color (dark and light orange, blue, brown, plus black and white) illustrations includes Greek pottery and quite a few scenes of Greek life taken directly from ancient pottery, a chart with Greek, Phoenician, and Latin letters, illustrations of clothing (including some t*pless women of ancient Crete), Greek ships, copies of Cretan and Greek art works and mosaics, dramatic illustrations of mythological and historical stories, illustrations of the Acropolis today and in the days of Pericles, etc. The choice and extent of the illustrations are superb.
The written text covers both historical events in detail and mythological and literary tales of the culture. Included in these latter are: Theseus and the Minotaur, a short retelling of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Deucalion and Pyrrha, a short summary of the gods of Greece and the importance of the Oracle at Delphi, excerpts from the poetry of Sappho and the tragedy Oepidus Rex. The historical accounts are quite detailed. They are not really in "story" form, but do focus on particular characters of importance, what they contributed and what their motivations were. Excitement builds as we hope the Athenians will listen to Themistocles's sage advice, the folly of pride is illustrated as we watch with amazement as Darius whips the waters of the Bosphorus.
We supplemented this text with the following books:
D'Aulaire's Greek Myths
The Children's Homer
Everyday Life in the Ancient World
Growing Up in Ancient Greece
But, really, you could use it alone without supplementation.
For my younger children, I read this book aloud and did some editing of the material. We used a salt clay map and discussions to enrich the text. For older students, I have used this as an ancient history spine and added related literature selections as our literature curriculum.
The volumes we have used of the set are those that cover pre-history (selections of this material), Ancient Eqypt, Ancient Israel, Ancient Greece and Rome. Once we get to the era of the Church, we use other texts, so I can't really tell you whether or not there is anti-Catholic material in the later volumes. The general approach is Judeo-Christian.
The text is unabashedly pro-Western and pro-democracy, and the archeology is based on the state of knowledge in the 1920's.
Here is an excerpt to give you a feel of the writing style:
"But the Persian archers were marksmen superhumanly true of aim; their cavalry was unequalled. To Croesus' intense astonishment, his army of ease-loving Lydians was totally defeated and driven back to Sardis with the Persians hot on their heels. Sardis was besieged. Sardis, the magnificent, the splendid and luxurious, fell before the foe! The unfortunate Croesus had indeed destroyed a mighty empire, as the oracle had foretold, but that empire was his own! It was Lydia and not Persia that had fallen in the struggle never to rise again.
Such an event was unthinkable! Croesus, the rich and powerful, humbled before the Persians! The wildest tales arose. In Athens men said the Cyrus had commanded the old King Croesus to be burned alive on a pyre, but that he had repented even as the flames sprang up and ordered the fire put out! Whatever truth there may be in this tale, the life of Croesus was spared, but his power was gone forever. Lydia was henceforth to be only a subject province in the growing empire of Persia."
(associated with this text are two illustrations-one is a copy of a frieze from the palace of Darius I in Susa showing Persian archers, the other is a copy of an illustration from a 5th cent. Attic vase showing Croesus seated on his funeral pyre and a slave lighting it.)
Hope all this helps and gives you enough info to make a decision!
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Caroline
Wife to  dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4
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JennGM
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| Posted: March 19 2011 at 1:22pm | IP Logged
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Oh, I've been toying with buying that set of books for a while, especially after reading (and rereading) this review and absolutely loving My Book House by the same author.
Thanks for the review!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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stellamaris
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| Posted: March 19 2011 at 1:57pm | IP Logged
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Jennifer, if you can post pictures, I could take a few of the illustrations if anyone is interested in seeing them. Personally, I love this series and also have used and loved The Book House for many years. I actually bought extra copies to have some for my own children as they grow up and begin their families!
I have often wondered how much work and cost would be involved in updating and expanding these books for a homeschooling audience. Wouldn't it be great to include some stories of the saints? Maybe an accompanying lesson plan would help people? Just thinking aloud...I haven't got the time to do anything like that right now, but maybe some day! 
ETA: And thanks for posting that review. It's especially helpful to everyone to have the details on all the volumes.
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Caroline
Wife to dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: June 07 2011 at 3:24pm | IP Logged
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After reading this thread a few months back, I've been keeping an eye out for this set. I found a complete sixth edition 1949 printing of books 1-8. Ebay for $34.00 (that includes shipping).
The listing doesn't show the inside of the books but there are so many colored illustrations in these books, they're great. I had put on schedule to read SOTW1 with my younger kids this fall, but I'm definetly prereading and think this will be our spine choice.
Thanks for the review link Jen, it makes me feel better about content.
Caroline, I think it would be nice to bring these back with the vibrance of the earlier editions. Thanks for your review of them and their use.
Any one else used these before? Or thinking about it?
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Jenny
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 07 2011 at 3:30pm | IP Logged
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After this discussion I found a really good price for the Picturesque Tale.
I do want to add some words of caution. I didn't take time enough to preview the books, and my son delved into them. The first books deal with Egyptian history, but many of the prints have some unclothed female upper bodies. My young son discovered these and was a bit upset.
So I have shelved these until I decide how to approach this. Egypt is what we are covering next year and I really want to use these. Do I "dress" the pictures in different places with permanent marker (my mother's trick) or shelve them until he's much older?
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 07 2011 at 3:31pm | IP Logged
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Oh, I got an old set, not a reprint. It was too good an offer to pass up...$34 with shipping for all the volumes.
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: June 07 2011 at 3:44pm | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
After this discussion I found a really good price for the Picturesque Tale.
I do want to add some words of caution. I didn't take time enough to preview the books, and my son delved into them. The first books deal with Egyptian history, but many of the prints have some unclothed female upper bodies. My young son discovered these and was a bit upset.
So I have shelved these until I decide how to approach this. Egypt is what we are covering next year and I really want to use these. Do I "dress" the pictures in different places with permanent marker (my mother's trick) or shelve them until he's much older? |
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I just got them and did notice a few pictures so far. Hmm...I'm not sure yet  . I haven't been to cautious about these things because I know that even in art we've been slightly exposed. And with a household full of nursing babies and as modest as I try to be I know certain body parts have on occasion been observed, with of course lots of questions and explanations.
But I wouldn't mind using a black marker/pencil and dress them either. I know I didn't buy the books to become a collectors item, I do expect that they'll get loved, so I don't mind doing that to them. 
I'll have to run that one past my dh tonight  .
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Jenny
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stellamaris
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| Posted: June 07 2011 at 9:14pm | IP Logged
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I'm so sorry you didn't notice my comment about some t#pless females picture in the review above, Jennifer and Jenny! I guess I ought to have highlighted it! These books do show actual period clothing (or lack thereof). If you wish to cover these pictures, I wonder if a post-it note will work? I'm sorry your son was distrssed, Jenn!
I also want to call attention to the fact that the death and resurrection if Christ is presented from a non-religious viewpoint, much as the other world religions are presented. The Resurrection is seen more as the belief of the apostles than as an actual historical happening. I use Marigold Hunt's books for Christ's life and the early church period.
Please be aware that these are not Christian books per se, so there are some problematic elements. However, history itself can be pretty problematic from time to time ( the rape of the Sabine women, Lot and his daughters,...), so you'll definitely want to pre-read.
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Caroline
Wife to dh 30+ yrs,ds's 83,85,89,dd's 91,95,ds's 01,01,02,grammy to 4
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| Posted: June 07 2011 at 10:06pm | IP Logged
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I missed it, Caroline, but mainly because I was already convinced I wanted the series, so I breezed through your review. Really, I wasn't thinking "Caroline didn't mention this!"
I needed to preview before he looked at them, and I didn't have time...he was an eager beaver and didn't do as I told, but I left them in a tempting place.
Bottom line, no worries, no blame, Caroline. Really.
This is just an area where my son is more sensitive, and I have been made aware I need to preview and adjust. We do use secular materials, and I don't have a problem adjusting to that, either.
We had discussions on how not knowing God and then having Christianity would make someone not understand modesty and appropriate clothing....
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: A Picturesque Tale of Progress
