Customer Reviews

Augustus: Godfather of Europe

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This was an enjoyable read, but it's hard to think of as either historical nor archaelogical scholarship. The narrative is filled with suppositions about what the people thought and felt. Entire conversations are retold as if as if a reporter was present to record what was said. The Notes at the end of the book don't really support statements made in the text. It seems Mr. Holland has relied on Ronald Syme's The Roman Revolution (1939) and the writings of Appian, Pultarch, Ovid, Seutonius, etc. Very little modern scholarship is referenced.

In the Preface and the last chapter "The Godfather of Europe", Mr. Holland takes takes jabs at current American foreign policy in Iraq. Analogizing that the Emperor and the American President carried the same motive to police the world. The author is constantly looking over his shoulder straining to draw comparisons between the Ancient and present day worlds. At times, the effort makes you chuckle. More often, it's just a distraction. The other thing the author does, as implied in the subtitle, is declare Augustus an ancient of the modern day mafia.

As a story based on the ancient, contemporaneous writings Augustus entertains. As history, this biography is not an important contribution to our understanding of its subject.

Following the success of NERO, this biography of the Emperor Augustus by Richard Holland is a triumph.

I found it brilliant and provocative, rarely following in the footsteps of other biographical historians but treading a new and bold path. Holland thinks between the lines of what antiquity has left us in the form of historical records and paints a three-dimensional picture of Augustus as an elusive but daring leader, the outsider who changed the face of Europe, a man who would not look out of place amongst the politicians of today's Western governments.

Highly recommended!