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Alexandru's Reviews > Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
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A good popular history of the Roman Republic from the early years all the way to Augustus. Tom Holland is very wordy as he tries to spin history like a fiction novel. He partially succeeds in Rubicon. The great romans Sulla, Marius, Crassus, Cato, Cicero Pompeii, Caesar all come to life in this book. The story of the Roman civil wars is especially captivating.
At the same time, the book suffers from Holland's over-flowery language. The book ends with the death of Augustus but there's little explanation of what he did to end the republic. In fact, about 40 years of his life are skipped. Overall a solid 3.5.
At the same time, the book suffers from Holland's over-flowery language. The book ends with the death of Augustus but there's little explanation of what he did to end the republic. In fact, about 40 years of his life are skipped. Overall a solid 3.5.
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Reading Progress
May 27, 2024
–
Started Reading
May 27, 2024
– Shelved as:
history
May 27, 2024
– Shelved
May 27, 2024
–
38.0%
May 31, 2024
–
60.0%
"Ok I'll give it to Holland this time. This is an enjoyable read, he really manages to bring to life Roman society and politics. The political battles of Marius, Sulla, Lucullus, Catiline, Cato, Cicero, Pompey, Crassus and Julius Caesar are as vivid as ever."
June 2, 2024
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80.0%
June 4, 2024
–
Finished Reading
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Dylan
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Jun 04, 2024 06:27AM
Yeah Tom Holland is not really a historian for better or worse (studied in English literature I think?). From what I hear, his history book about Persia and Roman conflict is quite bad. But general Roman-Greek history he’s more reliable. Quite interested reading his rome trilogy mainly and nothing else.
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I grabbed this book during this month's Amazon sale. I haven't read anything by Holland yet.
You can tell he's an English major, he's good with words. So it's a nice introduction for non-history people and it's easy to read. But it's very very non-academic.
