SPQR

I know that Mary Beard knows a lot more about Roman history than I do, but I don't think a general history like this shows off her knowledge in the best way. It's simply trying to cover too much in one modest volume, even though she chooses the (somewhat arbitrary) cutoff point of the early third century CE for an ending.

There's a lot that gets covered here - social, political, military, cultural and other forms of history all show up - but too much to make the story coherent so it's more a series of roughly-linked vignettes, rather than an overall history. It might have worked better by having a better focus on a few of the interesting stories she tells (and Beard is a good writer and storyteller) rather than trying to make it into an overarching history.

Dr. Mary Beard ( DBE, FSA, FBA, FRSL) brings together in this small volume an immense amount of history. I have been exposed to a fair amount of Roman history in dribs and drabs over the years, but this narrative brings it all together from what we know of the kings, through the republic and empire until the 1.0 version of the empire created by Octavian ceased to be what it once was after a dozen first citizens.

My favorite piece of this is the up to date (to 2015) scholarship and archeology and what it tells us about the everyday human beings who lived in that world. A pleasure to consume