Abandoned Places (Lesley and Roy Adkins)

Abandoned Places
Lesley and Roy Adkins
Shooting Star Press
Nonfiction, History
*** (Okay)

DESCRIPTION: Since the earliest days of civilization, great cities around the world have risen and fallen. Sometimes a single disaster - the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum - wipes them out in a single terrifying blow. Other times, the cause is less swift or certain. The silting of a harbor, the depletion of vital resources, the internal schisms of a weakening empire... even the most powerful city can find itself destroyed, turned obsolete, or rendered uninhabitable and lost to history. The authors examine a variety of abandoned cities from around the world, some from the very dawn of civilization and some from our own recent past.

REVIEW: Yes, it came from Half Price Books. It looked interesting, the sort of book that might inspire a story, so I gave it a try. The first chapter held some promise, showing the subject of abandoned places and ruins in an almost poetic light. Before long, unfortunately, it turned into a textbook, tossing around culture names and historic events with little explanation while glossing over huge chunks of information about the sites discussed. I had flashbacks to school, when history was taught as an endless cycle of "read the chapter, draw the timeline, pass the test, repeat" instead of an active story populated by humans not entirely unlike myself. I even found myself imagining the assignments I'd be given to accompany a book like this.
In its favor, Abandoned Places covers a very broad variety of sites, grouped roughly by the factors which are believed to have led to their downfall (political strife, depletion of local farmland, climate changes, disasters, and so forth.) There are also pictures of nearly every site discussed.
In summary, this makes a decent introduction to the subject of abandoned sites and past civilizations, but it certainly could've been more interesting.