Kyle Harrison
to-read
The Making of the Middle Sea
The Making of the Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean from the Beginning to the Emergence of the Classical World
- Author
- Cyprian Broodbank
- Published
- 2013
- Pages
- 678
- Recommended
- Once
Why it’s on the list: Broodbank takes the Mediterranean as a single unit from the first hominins to the classical world — an archaeological history of how a sea became a connected economy.
Where I saw it: In the reply thread to @typesfast’s question, “What’s the best history book you’ve read?” (June 5, 2025) — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand and saved to his Apple Note “Books To Read”; the full set of replies lives on What’s the best history book… (tweet). It was listed there as “The Making of the Middle Sea — Cyprian Broodbank”.
Connections
- History — The form: a body of water as the unit of analysis.
- Globalization — The first version of it, in one sea.
- What’s the best history book… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.