Brendan (History Nerds United)'s Reviews > Pax: War and Peace in Rome’s Golden Age

I need to admit up front that I usually find Roman history nearly impenetrable. There are so many names, positions (what is a consul anyway), and strict rules in Roman history that I often feel like you need a class on it before reading anything about it. Luckily, Tom Holland has taken pity on my feeble little brain.

Pax takes a loot at Rom's golden age when it was at the height of its powers and the various (or should I say numerous) emperors of the time period. Holland makes sure to hit the big events like Nero and the burning of Rome, but will also drop into smaller events which a Wikipedia article will not touch on. However, please don't misunderstand me. This book is still very dense and very involved. Holland does not write a high level book with no insight. This is still a deep history and Holland's research is clearly top notch. If you are a well read Roman historian, I am not sure there would be anything new in this book, but I think it's is written for people who would be hopelessly lost without someone holding their hand. (Me, I'm that reader that needs the hand holding.)

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Basic Books.)