Help find book about attempt to destroy civilization in 27 years

February 5, 2008 3:51 PM

What's the name of the history book about the 27 year period at in antiquity where a unknown merauding group attempted to destroy cities and many nascent civilizations?

I read a review of this book online, maybe linked from Digg or Reddit about what appeared (to the guy writing the book) to be a concerted effort to destory civilization. A group, about whom very little is known, went around and sacked cities in the Middle East/North Africa/Europe maybe in a pre-Roman era. The main thing I remember about the review and the book is this "27 year" period. The cities were are razed to the ground within this little slot of time so the author believes it was a single group.

I know this sounds vague. Maybe you read the review or know the book? It sounds interesting, doesn't it?

posted by xpermanentx to human relations (9 comments total)

Are you talking about the Sea Peoples, by any chance?
posted by nasreddin at 3:54 PM on February 5, 2008

Could it be "Collapse of the Bronze Age"? Though I don't see all that many reviews for it.
posted by that possible maker of pork sausages at 4:26 PM on February 5, 2008

I immediately thought of Brad Hicks. I suspect The End of the Bronze Age is what you are looking for.
posted by herbaliser at 4:32 PM on February 5, 2008

(direct link)
posted by herbaliser at 4:33 PM on February 5, 2008

Listen to herbaliser. His first link mentions the first sighting as 1225 BCE, and the last sighting as 1198 BCE. That's 27 years.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 5:29 PM on February 5, 2008

Listen to herbaliser. His first link mentions the first sighting as 1225 BCE, and the last sighting as 1198 BCE. That's 27 years.

Since the first few lines of the Brad Hicks link says the Bronze age started 10,000 BCE when it really started more like 5,000 BCE, I wouldn't be too quick to trust his finessing of 27 years.

Ok I just read more of that page. Complete and utter bullshit I am afraid.
posted by Rumple at 6:53 PM on February 5, 2008

Though I appreciate you may be looking for the book for some reason other than its factual content.
posted by Rumple at 6:54 PM on February 5, 2008

I think that the Brad Hicks link is just one guy's lay summary of Drews' The End of the Bronze Age. I haven't read Drews' book, but he is an emeritus professor of classics at Vanderbilt, so I would be inclined to chalk up any egregious errors in the summary to Brad Hicks rather than Drews. In a quick survey, I found a couple of good reviews of 'The End of the Bronze Age,' including this one from the Bryn Mawr Classical Review. He's no Velikovsky, as far as I can tell.
posted by that possible maker of pork sausages at 10:16 PM on February 5, 2008

That's the very review and the book. Thanks herbalizer and AskMeFi!
posted by xpermanentx at 9:47 AM on February 7, 2008