Walls: A History of Civilization in Blood and Brick (Gift for History Buffs)

"A lively popular history of an oft-overlooked element in the development of human society" (Library Journal)--walls--and a haunting and eye-opening saga that reveals a startling link between what we build and how we live.

For thousands of years, people have built walls and assaulted them,admired walls and reviled them. Great walls have appeared on everycontinent, the handiwork of Persians, Romans, Chinese, Inca, Ukrainians, and dozens of other peoples. They have accompanied the rise of cities,nations, and empires. And yet they rarely appear in our history books.     In Walls, David Frye makes a powerful case for rewriting history. Drawing onevidence from around the world, as well as his own experiences onarchaeological digs, Frye takes us on a provocative and occasionallyhumorous journey across windswept deserts and grassy, Northumbrianhills. As Frye guides us through a maze of exotic locales, investigating the coldest of cold cases, he gradually exposes a broader story withimplications for the present as well as the past. The history of wallsbecomes more than a tale of bricks and stone; it becomes the story ofwho we are and how we came to be.