How can 3000 years of history, documented by a mountain of sources, be surveyed clearly in a single book? Amanda tells us all about her new history of the ancient Middle East. Why did she use micro-histories? Who among the people in her book made the biggest impacts on her? 3:36 why micro-histories? 7:46 finding the non-elites 11:38 who did Amanda empathise with? 13:22 who did she feels sorry for? 16:56 who made her laugh? 19:40 whose story to tell? 21:43 history from limited data 26:11 writing a synthesis 30:26 why this book? 32:52 the author's hopes Amanda's Academia page Amanda's university page Amanda's new book Music by Ruba Hillawi Website: http://wedgepod.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw Email: [email protected] Twitter: @wedge_pod Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod