Hello everyone. I decided it was easier to just make my way through a massive multi-volume reference work than to sift through the askhistorians list and try get piecemeal views on particular subjects in order to build a solid general understanding of history.
My question is Cambridge Ancient History which goes from prehistory to late antiquity in 14 volumes (technically 19 if you count v1 part 1, v2 part 2, etc.) still up-to-date / worth the read? The thing is the first volume in this massive set was first published in 1970, but was reprinting for the 6th or 7th time in 2006; the last volume was first published in 2000 and reprinted in 2007...So I'm hoping that because these were reprinted within the last 10 years they are fairly up-to-date? I don't need perfection, just competency.
If this is out of date, do you have any suggestions for anything comparable in scope and up to date?
Here is a link to the complete series: https://www.cambridge.org/core/series/cambridge-ancient-history/010C506409EE858277F898C129759025
Thank you.
The second edition of the Cambridge Ancient History (CAH) is written by the leading scholars in each separate field, and remains the most comprehensive and reliable overview of the entirety of ancient history. There are loads of small ways in which it has become outdated, and if a third edition were begun today, I am sure it would be totally different, but that is the nature of scholarship, and by the time the next edition is out, that too will be out of date. If you're looking for competence, this is the work you want.
My main gripe with the CAH is that its focus is very much on political history. It will occasionally go into stupefying detail on individual campaigns or constitutional changes, but generally gives short shrift to social, economic, cultural or military history. For such topics, more recent volumes like the Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World (2007) and the Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare (2007) are essential additions.