History – 600 pages - my copy (paperback; 2006) purchased from Waterstones for £9.99 in 2008
- 3 nods out of 5 -
In spanning the classical world – a period from the fall of Troy to Hadrian’s reign of the Roman Empire – Robin Lane Fox has attempted to cram over one thousand years of history into one book. More than that, he not only concentrates on one society, but several; chiefly those of ancient Greece and the Roman Republic and Empire.
The book comments on a whole multitude: the Archaic Greek world; the Persian wars, the rivalling city states of Sparta and Athens; Alexander the Great; the rise of the Roman Republic and its eventual transformation into Empire. A weighty list indeed to contain in a book, yet Lane Fox does an admirable job of detailing all humanly possible. The Greeks and their Macedonian cousins consume half the author’s attention, whilst the Romans have the last 300 pages devoted to them. It is to the Romans in which Lane Fox comes closest to capturing the reader’s attention, notably the tumultuous time in which Caesar conquered Rome and became dictator, the effects of which changed the political landscape of the Western world forever.
In his introduction, the author speaks grandly of employing contemporary thinking – from advances in medicine, social sciences and literary studies – in an attempt to put fresh questions to the evidence before him. However, the results are not all spectacular as would be supposed. Despite listing an array of historical characters, and devoting whole chapters to some of the principal names (such as Socrates, Alexander the Great and Cicero) at no point does the reader feel as if they are being treated to the fresh insight initially promised.
Perhaps this has more to do with Lane Fox’s preference to debate on archaeological findings; his chapter on the last days of Pompeii is one of his strongest. But the more concrete reason is behind the author’s lack of strong prose and colourful characterisation. Towards the book’s end, when emperor after emperor is rattled off, it becomes weighty to reading eyes, like a large stone being dragged to a the finish point.
Six hundred pages simply doesn’t do this vast time period justice; and more cuttingly, six hundred pages simply is beyond the author’s ability. However, as an introductory guide into these times, the people and the issues, Robin Lane Fox’s book suffices as a worthy addition to the book shelf.
The book comments on a whole multitude: the Archaic Greek world; the Persian wars, the rivalling city states of Sparta and Athens; Alexander the Great; the rise of the Roman Republic and its eventual transformation into Empire. A weighty list indeed to contain in a book, yet Lane Fox does an admirable job of detailing all humanly possible. The Greeks and their Macedonian cousins consume half the author’s attention, whilst the Romans have the last 300 pages devoted to them. It is to the Romans in which Lane Fox comes closest to capturing the reader’s attention, notably the tumultuous time in which Caesar conquered Rome and became dictator, the effects of which changed the political landscape of the Western world forever.
In his introduction, the author speaks grandly of employing contemporary thinking – from advances in medicine, social sciences and literary studies – in an attempt to put fresh questions to the evidence before him. However, the results are not all spectacular as would be supposed. Despite listing an array of historical characters, and devoting whole chapters to some of the principal names (such as Socrates, Alexander the Great and Cicero) at no point does the reader feel as if they are being treated to the fresh insight initially promised.
Perhaps this has more to do with Lane Fox’s preference to debate on archaeological findings; his chapter on the last days of Pompeii is one of his strongest. But the more concrete reason is behind the author’s lack of strong prose and colourful characterisation. Towards the book’s end, when emperor after emperor is rattled off, it becomes weighty to reading eyes, like a large stone being dragged to a the finish point.
Six hundred pages simply doesn’t do this vast time period justice; and more cuttingly, six hundred pages simply is beyond the author’s ability. However, as an introductory guide into these times, the people and the issues, Robin Lane Fox’s book suffices as a worthy addition to the book shelf.
