Reviewer: A reader from Concord, CA USA

Good, solid material dealing with past cultures for Mage.
I initially picked up this book out of curiosity; I don't use the 'dead' civiliazations much in my campaigns, but I usually enjoy seeing how White Wolf creates their alternate histories.

This book was done reasonably well, covering five separate cultures - sub-Saharan Africa, Mesopotamia, Central/Southern America, Greece and Rome, and 'the Arctic'. The sections are all similar, with flavor text at the beginning, a brief overview of history in the middle, and magic from these cultures at the end. Some of the chapters are wonderfully executed, while others seem almost like they were rushed. In a few cases, I would have preferred that the authors and typesetters condensed some information, to make room for more flavor or culture notes (the explanation of the Mayan calendrical system is basic, but could have taken half the space).

Overall, if you are planning on dealing at all with 'dead' civilizations as a mage, then this book (supplemented with real history books) will give you that something extra to make your stories more believable!