A Scandalous History of the Roman Emperors

 

A Scandalous History of the Roman Emperors
A Scandalous History of the Roman Emperors
by Authors: Anthony Blond
Released: August, 2000
ISBN: 0786707593
Paperback

Sales Rank: 137,633
List price: $11.95
Our price: $9.56 (You save: $2.39)
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A Scandalous History of the Roman Emperors > Customer Review #1:
A Guilty Pleasure that really isn¿t

"A Scandalous History of the Roman Emperors" probably makes you think of a work that drools over the purported sexual, gustatory, and social perversions of the Julio-Claudians. (Not that theres anything especially wrong with that.) Well, fortunately its much more than that. It actually is a fairly scholarly (despite the authors disclaimer) social history of Rome for the early portion of the Empire. Chapters are devoted to Sex, naturally, Food, Politics and bios of three of the Emperors. The downside is the previously mentioned three bios only. Strange, given the title. However, the space given to Roman society would be the strength of the book even with sketches of all the Julio-Claudians. The tone of the book is conversational, with some excellent parallels and contrasts with late 20th century European society. If you are looking for a book that discusses Roman society without a hefty dose of quotes from Livy, Juvenal, Suetonius et al; and one you could finish in a day or two, by all means read this book. Highly recommended.

A Scandalous History of the Roman Emperors > Customer Review #2:
You cannot always judge a book by its title

As a history buff, I will have to admit to having an interest in all the salacious details from the past. I was very excited, therefore, by the title of the book and the delights which it promised to offer. I was dissappointed, unfortunately. The author does state that he is not doing anything original, which is fine, but he should at least have found an original way to make this history seem fresh in its retelling. The repetition of many of the anecdotes sometimes could make it seem that one was at faculty dinner party with a professor telling you the same story he had just told in class. Also the longest chapter in the book, on Roman food, was neither scandolous nor about the Roman emperors but, even worse, was not particulary captivating. There were interesting elements to the book as the subject is so fascinating but it was not as well put together as I had antipacited based on its mouth watering title.

A Scandalous History of the Roman Emperors > Customer Review #3:
Blond is knowlegable, but his editor should be flogged

The initial chapters are pretty decent, with many interesting anecdotes and parentheticals (which I seem to enjoy more than many other reviewers).

Unfortunately, the general untidiness of Mr Blonds prose seems to build in a wave, until by the middle of the book (the chapter on Julius Ceasar), its degenerated almost to the point of being incomprehensible. Ive struggled through one additional chapter, the one on Augustus, and it doesnt seem to be getting better. Its uncertain whether Ill be able to finish a book that no longer seems to be printed in English. Really, I blame whoever failed to edit this book.

Do yourself a favor - buy a different book.



 
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