( 25 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Aug 11 2009
A hundred years ago, people of any education would have recognized the iconic characters and events of "Rubicon" -- crafty Crassus, gluttonous Lucullus, censorious Cato; the geese that saved Rome, Cleopatra in her rug, Anthony offering Caesar a crown. If those names and events were part of your early education, this book will serve as a slangy, lightweight review of what you might want to remember. If you've never heard of Pompey the Great and are confused by allusions to Cicero or Sulla, this book will bring you up to speed in your next time for your next quiz show appearance. In either case, it's a painless excursion through old-fashioned narrative history. But it is old-fashioned. It's history written entirely in terms of 'leading' personalities, of their quirks and virtues. Based largely on the writings left by the Roman and Greek authors themselves, particularly Plutarch, it adds almost nothing to those writings; in fact, by sketching Roman figures in distinctly modern colors, it's probably more misleading than insightful. There's almost nothing of economic, environmental, or social history in the book -- nothing to suggest that events are shaped by anything broader than the choices made by powerful individuals. If that's the kind of history you like -- the 'great man' novelistic narrative -- then you'll be thrilled by Tom Holland's account and you'll wonder why I'm less satisfied. However, if it's juicy gossip about the polymorphic perversity of the Roman aristocracy you're seeking, you will find Holland a rather desultory story-teller, not half as vivid as Robert Graves... or Suetonius.
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Posted: Jul 22 2009
I've read a lot about the Late Republic era, and I am convinced that this is still the best book on the period. Holland's writing is smooth, exciting, and almost like a story rather than history. Holland really makes Caesar, Pompey, and the other characters come to life. He also takes care to provide the reader with a short but insightful background. I think he is right to stress the importance of the precedent of Marius and Sulla. Overall, I can't recommend this book enough. I wish it were assigned reading in high schools rather than the dry textbooks on ancient history.
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Posted: Jun 3 2009
Rubicon is a delightful and easy read, obviously geared for a non-academic audience. It casts the time before, during, and after Julius Caesar's rise to power in clear, enjoyable prose. The author asserts in his preface that narrative history is back in vogue, and uses that method of relaying his interpretation of the events he covers very well. I initially read this book after watching the HBO series "Rome"; I found this book to be at least as entertaining, if not more, and more interesting as the story was based on facts. However, I found the author took perhaps a little too much liberty with his narrative and used it as an excuse to not explore some of the issues that were more contested for the sake of his narrative's fluidity. As a non-academic text, however, this is certainly a forgivable offense and a choice that the author himself acknowledges. This was a very enjoyable book and an excellent, non-academic introduction to the fall of the Roman Republic.
