Breve storia di Roma

Interesting to read, but it falls short in its aim. The history of Rome is glossed over in parts, opting to spend more time on the 'exciting' topics such as colosseums. However, this does allow the book to convey a particular image on Roman culture, though this is for a specific time period, and sho Leggi tutto

It has one of the strangest structures I have ever encountered in a history book; in fact, I could only describe it as "two steps forward, one step back" in its summary approach to the history of Rome. But there is no denying that, using its strange structure, it manages to cover an impossibly immen Leggi tutto

An interesting if brief overview of the history of the Roman Empire. The book is divided in to chapters which cover specific years of the Empire - each chapter starts with a little timeline detailing some of the bigger events during it's specific period, followed by a brief (3-4 page) summary. The r Leggi tutto

Een beknopte maar complete geschiedenisvertelling van het grootste rijk dat we ooit in Europa hebben gezien, van de ontstaansmythen en het vissersdorp tot de eerste christelijke keizer en de val van het West-Romeinse Rijk. Veel meer dan een gewoon geschiedenisboek, vertelt de auteur niet alleen de p Leggi tutto

An enjoyable read about the Romans. At the beginning of this book the author unashamedly points out that this is a narrative written for the ‘average reader’ and not a historian, and thus the format is quite appealing - each chapter begins with a broad overview followed by bite size chunks on variou Leggi tutto

An engaging, energetic introduction to Roman history, suitable for the total novice (like me). History books aren't really my forte, but Jones' narrative sweep of this two thousand years or so passed like a breeze, and opened up endless unexplored avenues of knowledge for me to visit in the future.

I really like this book. It ranges from the myths around Rome's founding right up to exploring the split into Eastern and Western halves of the Empire, highlighting some of the lesser-known emperors as well as looking at the lives of the ordinary people - and all with Jones' typical humour, which ma Leggi tutto

This book is filled with a huge amount of detailed knowledge which provides the reader with some interesting and unusual facts about Ancient Rome (for example, togas were not worn everyday, bath houses were notoriously dirty). However I would not view this as a suitable introduction to Roman history Leggi tutto

Like the guide to Ancient Greece by the same author, this doesn't claim to be a complete history of Rome. Rather it is a taster. Split into chronological chapters, each starts with a summary of events in the period covered, and is followed by short independent sections covering various topics from t Leggi tutto

Lots of interesting facts presented in quite an informal way. The title is misleading "everything you wanted to know about the Romans but were afraid to ask". The information in the book does not match up to this claim. It's more a telling of the history of Rome from start to end. It does jump aroun Leggi tutto