Customer Reviews

great walls - By: G. I. Forbes, 16 Dec 2008
At least this author admits that none of the Chinese walls can be seen from space & that there is more than one wall(at last count there were 14) but continues to use the misnomer The Great Wall Of China which should at least bein the pleural.
The author recountsin well written detail a)the earth walls which includes the 3 walls of the Warring States (350-300bc)and the Han Wall (202bc-220ad) plus b)the stone walls-the Jin Wall(1115-1234)and the Ming wall (1368-1644) Only the Ming Wall which runs from the Pacific coast at the border of China with North Korea to the JadeGate at Juiyguan about 4000 miles to the west could be considered the Great wall whichin fact is a European invention as the Chinese Call the walls frontier walls.
The pictures are excellent but a few more would have enhanced the book. The maps are of below average quality.
There is a good bibliography,the appendix giving dates of dynastys & the chronology of the walls is excellent but it should have been placed at the front of the book.
The chapter on the Lost Legion is a nice touch.