Description

‘The bloodstained drama of the last decades of the Roman republic… is told afresh with tremendous wit, narrative verve and insight’

‘I owe a debt of gratitude to Tom Holland not just for reminding me of the great figures who bestrode the Roman world – Pompey and Crassus, Cato, Cicero and Caesar – but for explaining what it was that made Rome the greatest superpower the world has known, why it lasted so long and what caused its eventual fall’ Daily Mail

‘Gripping and hugely entertaining. It is a story crammed with drama and spectacle… but the real attraction of Holland’s book is the wit and contemporary sensibility that he brings to his often bloody tale’ Books of the Year, Sunday Times

‘This is narrative history at its best… it really held me, in fact, obsessed me’ Ian McEwan, Books of the Year, Guardian

THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Publisher Review

Explosive stuff ... a seriously intelligent history ... [written] with elan and gusto ... It is a history for our times ... Wickedly enjoyable * Peter Jones, BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE * A modern, well-paced and finely observed history which entertains as it informs * OBSERVER * This is the best one-volume narrative history of the Rome between King Tarquin and Emperor Augustus I have ever read. The story of Rome's experiment with republicanism - peopled by such giants as Caesar, Pompey, Cato and Cicero - is told with perfect fre * Andrew Roberts * Holland has the rare gift of making deep scholarship accessible and exciting. A brilliant and completely absorbing study * A. N. Wilson, author of The Victorians * Explosive stuff...a seriously intelligent history... [written] with elan and gusto... It is a history for our times... Wickedly enjoyable. * Peter Jones, BBC History Magazine * A modern, well-paced and finely observed history which entertains as it informs. * Observer * This is the best one-volume narrative history of the Rome between King Tarquin and Emperor Augustus I have ever read. The story of Rome's experiment with republicanism - peopled by such giants as Caesar, Pompey, Cato and Cicero - is told with perfect freshness, fine wit and true scholarship. * Andrew Roberts * Holland has the rare gift of making deep scholarship accessible and exciting. A brilliant and completely absorbing study. * A.N Wilson, author of The Victorians *