Rating: 
Summary: Learn more from a comic than you did from college......
Review: After devouring the first two bound volumes, I eagerly anticipated the release of the third. And it did not disappoint. It introduced me to African and middle eastern history which all the history classes I have ever taken never even considered covering. Moreover, the author breaks down complex issues and the interaction of forces which shape history in a way that anyone can understand. From stoners to scholars, this book has something for everyone. If copies were placed in every high school bathroom across the nation, we would have a better country for it.
Rating:
Summary: When is the next one?!
Review: Amazing stuff in this one! It even tells the start of the muslim religion, and other things as well. I thought the way he handled the muslim belief that people should not be drawn very well, and it gave me a new insight into thier religion. The stuff on the crusades was top notch, and the part on Christopher Columbus was good too. I would have liked more on the Black Death, but thats just me. I can't wait for book 4!
Rating: 
Summary: Probably worth it, but...
Review: Ever since I turned up The Cartoon History Of The Universe I in my school bookshop 14 years ago I've been buying Mr Gonick's offerings on sight. They're not at all easy to come by in England, and I wasn't even aware the third volume was out until I happened across it in a shop opposite the British Museum on a trip to London a couple of years ago.
On the plus side, this volume has incredible range, fills some important gaps (though we'll have to wait for IV for the New World). The artwork is arguably the best yet but I miss the more detailed, fulsome style of I. Comic quality is on and off.
My problem with this one is Gonick has spared his irreverence for the easy target, Western Christendom, which was, you would be had believe, uniquely barbarous, ignorant and wretched, only shoved blinking into the light of the Renaissance by the grace of the Greek and Islamic civilisations it despoiled.
Gonick knows enough history to know better than to project postmodern values backwards onto his subjects, yet he does it relentlessly, going beyond the call of humour and in a way that cheapens certain episodes of history to an almost criminal extent. It will not do to make a heavy moral issue out of slavery, religious proselytism and so forth in an age where nobody thought twice about it, especially if you're going to do it selectively like Gonick too often does.
Political correctness is what it comes down to. He seems to have an almost pathological thing against the French in particular. He only reluctantly acknowledges such things as Gothic architecture and the emergence of philosophical and secular culture that were primarily produce de France, in short ignoring that France was the cultural and military flagship of western Europe in favour of perpetuating the shameful myth far too many Americans seem to buy, that the French were never anything but arrogant cowards. (And I'm not French, or even particularly pro-French, but come on, lads.) The Muslims on the other hand can do no wrong - except of course when they encounter the blacks, whose every little achievement is exalted - and I notice with dismay he repeats several urban legends about the relative sophistication of medieval western European and Islamic culture without criticism.
Lesser issues include his sometimes annoying flippancy, the tendency to Americanise everything and certain factual inaccuracies, dependence on out-of-date source material and weird oversights such as England (except in passing) between 1066 and the plague or Germany except when the Germans are doing something reprehensible to the Jews not to mention the whole of eastern Europe. (I'm assuming he'll deal with Russia in IV, it gets barely a sentence here.)
I don't hold out much hope for IV as we move into the age of slavery and colonialism unless the author can recapture some of that old irreverence and perhaps apply it to his own tarnished belief system, the nature of which is abundantly clear.
Rating:
Summary: Had so much fun I almost didn't realize how much I learned.
Review: Gonick does an excellent job mixing education (in this case a heaping third helping of world history) with entertainment. For anyone who likes seeing the big picture - and perhaps finding places to dig deeper at a later date - this is the place to come. Though it's a light way to read history, this is not history-lite. There is a lot here and, from what I've been able to tell by checking with people who teach parts of this, Gonick is careful to get it right.
Rating:
Summary: Had so much fun I almost didn't realize how much I learned.
Review: Gonick does an excellent job mixing education (in this case a heaping third helping of world history) with entertainment. For anyone who likes seeing the big picture - and perhaps finding places to dig deeper at a later date - this is the place to come. Though it's a light way to read history, this is not history-lite. There is a lot here and, from what I've been able to tell by checking with people who teach parts of this, Gonick is careful to get it right.
Rating:
Summary: Well-researched and more fun to read than Durant
Review: Gonick is a highly trained mathematician who more or less left academe to become a cartoonist, and has won several awards in that endeavor. He's also a very fair general historian, especially in the way of multi-everything synthesis. This volume comprises volumes 14-19 in the series (as they were originally published), covering the back-story to and rise of Islam, the post-Roman history of Africa, the further development of China and India, and all the complexity of events taking place in Central Asia. Oh, yeah -- Europe, too! Actually, most of us with professional historian's training are still apt to think in European and North American terms, for which Gonick's work is a great antidote. He also puts paid to any notion of Islam being a "peaceful" religion -- no more than Christianity, certainly -- and readers with a knowledge of Jewish history also will be nodding at his witty but pointed renderings. And how many comic books have you read that include an index and an annotated bibliography?
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Summary: Well worth the long wait !!
Review: I can honestly say as a History Teacher that this is a grand book !! Especially about the "Roman" Byzantine Empire, I see that Mr. Gonick pulled no punches and that it really helped in making the book ring true. Well Done ! And let us hope that the next book comes soon to the book stalls !
Rating:
Summary: The 8 year wait was worth it.
Review: I don't know why there was such a long gap between volumes II and III of Gonick's opus, but the research clearly paid off. Mr. Gonick covers parts of history that many of us with Western educations are less than familiar with: the Arab world (timely!), the African empires of Ethiopia and Ghana, and the central asian mongol and turk conquerors. You'll find the birth of Islam here, as well as the ongoing cultural competition between Buddhism and Hinduism. All supported by a wonderful bibliography, and Gonick's trademark humour, behind which lurks the melancholy and, dare I say it, cynicism that a serious study of history necessarily engenders. The book is dedicated to all skeptics, everywhere, and this is an essential part of any skeptic's library. Don't focus on the cartoon aspect: this is history, alive and vivid, and worth reading today.
Rating:
Summary: amusing, thought provoking, but not accurate
Review: I find this book to be very amusing and thought provoking. However, as a teacher of Asian history and culture, I have to say that the Asian history part of this book is not particularly accurate. For example, the first emperor of the Sui dynasty in China was most definitely NOT killed by his "barons." He died in his sick bed. It's possible that his second son (and successor) did something to speed up his death, but there is no evidence of assassination by anyone else. Or take Japan: According to this book, the Mongol invasions weakened the rule of the Japanese emperor and ushered in an age of warrior rule. Actually, at the time of the Mongol invasions, the Japanese government had already been controlled by warriors for about 100 years. So, read this book for fun by all means, but when it comes to the history of Asia, please don't take Mr. Gonick's word for it!
Rating:
Summary: Pure Masterpiece - INCREDIBLE
Review: I just finished reading this third volume of the greatest history books ever! It's simply a masterpiece. Larry Gonick has a superbly keen sense of understanding political, cultural, and even economical atmospheres in the context of the era he covers in this book (appox. 500-1500 CE). All the significant events and trends are tied together in an incredibly witty way, and always in a global context. He cleverly shows how interrelated and interdependent the world was back then. Jewish kingdom in Central Asia, Normans at the Balkans, and the Christian mother of Kublai Khan are all the surprizing new gems of knowledge I gained from this delightful book. Drawing-wise, I am glad Gonick took extra effort (better than Volume II) to create a feast of imagery and emotion. His medium of cartoon really gives much more than plain texts, especially historical texts. Just look into all those sad expressions of the ill-fated ones, and don't tell me you dont get sympathetic! Volume I was my favorite book when I was in middle school, Volume II during my senior year in high school, and now, with a degree in History, I still get inspired and taught by this new, and best yet, volume of the History of the Universe series.
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