Saturday, March 12, 2016

Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West and Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic, Tom Holland

(I'm halfway through his other book, but I can't seem to concentrate on it enough to get to the end.)

So interesting, so well written, so full of information I will never have time to teach my students. I was particularly enamored of Holland's descriptions of how the Persians viewed the battles at Marathon and Thermopylae, instead of a narrative from the Greek perspective which I'm more used to. The book on Rome is equally interesting but less of a story and more just an explanation of all the things that happened in the centuries before Caesar killed the Republic. (It would help if every single name in Rome didn't start with a C, boy I get them confused.)

Persian Fire: A

Rubicon: B

Originally posted 2010
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