World History The Human Odyssey Book

4/5 stars
Recommended for people who like: history, African history, microcosm vs. macrocosm views, overall global trends

I think overall this is a good book looking at global trends and their impacts on one country, and vice versa, how one country can have an impact on global trends. I was especially delighted by the fact it was about a country I'd never heard of before. I pride myself on my geography and history knowledge, so it was nice to be informed on a place and history I'd never heard of before. It was a rather dense read and there were things I had to go back and re-read, but if you're interested in the topic I'd definitely recommend it and think it's worth the extra effort.

The thing I didn't like about this book was how Wright jumped subjects and then would come back to one after several sections of not talking about it. I've had 'for pleasure' nonfiction books do this too and I always find it slightly aggravating, but since this book was for a class and I needed to be able to take detailed, organized notes, it was especially annoying.

The star was taken off for the fact some of the information dragged on longer than I thought necessary and that Wright could've easily condensed some of his sections and chapters down to create a smaller, less dense book.