This is the latest book by Yale historian J. G. Manning. It declares two main aims: First, to give a broad account of the lived human experience in the Mediterranean region from the Iron Age to the Second Punic War. Second, to explore recent schools of thought and academic debates on that period from various disciplines. The material is organized loosely in two parts (Part 1: History & Theory, Part 2: Environment & Institutions) and nine chapters that are each meant to be freestanding, and so the content partially overlaps. This is a lot of material to cover in a few hundred pages and the book sets a fast pace. The character of this book is often that of a literature review, reflected also in its extensive Appendix, Notes, and Bibliography.

In pursuit of the second aim of the book, the author frequently points to ongoing debates and open research questions. A researcher looking for an overview of recent discussions of specialized, related topics may find it a helpful starting point and will find excellent notes and references for more details. The approach in Manning's book is not to advance a single line of development or a chronological take, but it rather tries to interweave several different narratives, emphasizing processes of cross-cultural interaction and heterogeneity, that converge to the unification of the Mediterranean region under Rome. In terms of the content covered, particularly three themes stand out: (1) The role of climate and climate change, (2) the role of institutions, and (3) an emphasis on the importance of the Near East and Egypt.

1. (1) The book provides various data series on climate in the first millennium bce that are taken from the recent scientific literature. These data collections include information on the timing of volcanic eruptions, solar activity, temperature anomalies, and tree growth anomalies in this period. The book takes a few steps in the direction of using these climate data to inform on historical events. For example, we learn about the effect volcanic eruptions may have had on the flooding on the Nile valley, and consequent social and economic developments in Egypt in the Ptolemaic Period. As the book demonstrates, this kind of approach is not only an active area of study, but also leaves many open questions that may provide useful for research in the years ahead.

2. (2) Institutions enter the discussion in various forms. Broader engagement with the school of New Institutional Economics is a consistent theme of the book, and in addition, some specific institutions are directly discussed. The roles of institutions such as money, coinage, public law, private law, property rights, markets, and trade are given some more detailed attention.

3. (3) This book reminds us that there were several channels of cultural and economic exchange throughout the first millennium bc, and researchers should treat the northern Mediterranean as politically and economically linked to western Asia, North Africa, and Egypt. Solely Eurocentric narratives of the period, as were common traditionally and can still occasionally be found, risk missing critical influences. The author uses his background in Egyptian history to support this view throughout the book with examples and comparisons and demonstrates various cultural and economic links connecting the Mediterranean region during this period.

The interest and focus of this book lie more on a meta-discussion and contrast of existing theories on the subject rather than on discussing data and detailed evidence. A key theme of the book is the search of the right "model," a term that seems to have fewer quantitative implications here than it would have in its standard use in economics. Much room is given to methodological discussions on properties of the right analytically descriptive theory concerning developments in this period. Occasionally economic frameworks are used to interpret data, and economic approaches to related problems are discussed. There are frequent warnings not to underestimate the complexity and the dynamic of historical processes, and mono-causal or linear narratives are rejected.

Various words have been used to describe this Mediterranean Sea. Corrupting, great, middle, white, wine-dark come to mind. Open seems a useful characterization, particularly in this highly connected millennium before the Romans. Open in the context of this book has a second meaning: It suggests that an open mind to the methodology in approaching this topic would not only be possible, but desirable. “The way forward, I believe, is to be as broad and open as possible in methods, in theory, and in the use of data” (p. 263). This is a welcoming and encouraging invitation to us economists, as well as researchers from other disciplines, to apply our toolkits on this ancient world, that offers so much interesting variation.