An interesting idea, probably quite new at the time of publication but this books seems a bit outdated now somehow. Braudel was near the end of his career when this book was published, so he has an older approach to history, a more personally interpretive approach -which can be interesting, granted, but the facts on the ground have changed some since the writing I think. The narrative is quite personal; you sense the value judgements and personal biases in the recounting, and this rather puts me off due to the assumed superiorities, cultural or otherwise. There seems to have been a revolution in accessing and processing data in the historical research process and this has shifted the style of writing and also interpretation.
Didn't read the whole book but looked through the chapter especially on the 12th century B.C. which saw the appearance of the Indo-europeans in Greece, the fall of the Hittite, Mycenaean and Minoan civilizations and the appearance of the mysterious Sea Raiders. Was it climate shift? Was it invasion? Was it mass migration to greener pastures? The evidence seems to remain inconclusive.
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