12-17-2010, 07:58 AM
I have the book and find it useful.
It is much more voluminous than the works of the authors you cited. The archaeological sections are an extensive compendium of much of the information that was available at that date but if you are mainly interested in warfare, "The Spoils of Victory" probably has better and more extensive coverage (and glossy pictures!). The historic Sections are very dated in (a) following a very conventional literary source oriented view with little coverage on issues of ethnogenesis etc. and (b) have a very socialist/communist sting (much class fighting with slaveholder societies). The Akademie-Verlag was the Eastern German state scientific publisher after all.
Still, the volume of information is very useful, if you can find it at a reasonable price. If you are looking specifically for Eastern German archaeological finds, there is a probably better book also from the 70s/80s I believe with the title "Archäologie in der DDR" or similar.
It is much more voluminous than the works of the authors you cited. The archaeological sections are an extensive compendium of much of the information that was available at that date but if you are mainly interested in warfare, "The Spoils of Victory" probably has better and more extensive coverage (and glossy pictures!). The historic Sections are very dated in (a) following a very conventional literary source oriented view with little coverage on issues of ethnogenesis etc. and (b) have a very socialist/communist sting (much class fighting with slaveholder societies). The Akademie-Verlag was the Eastern German state scientific publisher after all.
Still, the volume of information is very useful, if you can find it at a reasonable price. If you are looking specifically for Eastern German archaeological finds, there is a probably better book also from the 70s/80s I believe with the title "Archäologie in der DDR" or similar.
Regards,
Jens Horstkotte
Munich, Germany
Jens Horstkotte
Munich, Germany
