09-08-2008, 05:40 PM
MADNESS!
It was an excellent book. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone.
A friend of mine starting flicking through Rubicon one night in my house while I showered. When I came out he asked to borrow it. Surprised (as he does not read any history or show an interest in it) I said of course.
A week later he was ranting, bright eyed about Rome, the republic, Cato, Cicero, Caesar, the civil wars and told me he had ordered goldsworthys Caesar from amazon and asked if I had any more books on the Romans.
This was from a man who previously showed NO interest in history.
If you cannot enjoy this book, it is your loss.
As it says in the preface:
"The reader should take it as a rule of thumb that many statements of fact in theis book could plausibly be contradicted by an opposite interpretation. This is not a consel of despair. Rather, it is a necessary preface to a narrative that has been pieced together from broken shards, but in such a way as to conceal some of the obvious joins and gaps."
"After a spell in the dog house. Narritive history is now squarely back in fashion. Even if, as many have argued, it can only function by imposing upon the random events of the past an artificial pattern."
It was an excellent book. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone.
A friend of mine starting flicking through Rubicon one night in my house while I showered. When I came out he asked to borrow it. Surprised (as he does not read any history or show an interest in it) I said of course.
A week later he was ranting, bright eyed about Rome, the republic, Cato, Cicero, Caesar, the civil wars and told me he had ordered goldsworthys Caesar from amazon and asked if I had any more books on the Romans.
This was from a man who previously showed NO interest in history.
If you cannot enjoy this book, it is your loss.
As it says in the preface:
"The reader should take it as a rule of thumb that many statements of fact in theis book could plausibly be contradicted by an opposite interpretation. This is not a consel of despair. Rather, it is a necessary preface to a narrative that has been pieced together from broken shards, but in such a way as to conceal some of the obvious joins and gaps."
"After a spell in the dog house. Narritive history is now squarely back in fashion. Even if, as many have argued, it can only function by imposing upon the random events of the past an artificial pattern."
