Caesar: A Biography [Hardcover]

Christian Meier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 1996

As politician and diplomat, writer and lover, but above all as a military genius, Julius Caesar is one of the perennially fascinating figures in history—Boswell called him ”the greatest man of any age.” Christian Meier’s authoritative and accessible biography is the definitive modern account of Caesar’s life and career, setting Caesar’s life story against the rich political and social background of the Late Roman Republic.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1st ptg. edition (February 7, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465008941
• ISBN-13: 978-0465008940
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #720,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating read, July 20, 2000

By 

John Knutsen (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Caesar: A Biography (Hardcover)

Meier considers his book a "scholarly biography," but it's intended for a general audience -- in omitting footnotes and even a bibliography, for example, he already sets his book apart from the usual scholarly studies. Meier has clearly done a great deal of research and thinking on the subject over a long period of time, and he readily presents the conflicting theories behind many events in and facets of Caesar's life. If you're looking for a detailed military analysis of "Caesar the General" and his campaigns specifically, this isn't it. The book is part biography, part character analysis; while the latter is always dangerous when dealing with a titanic historical figure like Caesar, Meier never stoops to the kind of superficial psychoanalysis that too often plagues biographies dealing with great figures from antiquity (such as Alexander the Great). He bases his ideas on the ancient sources and the work of prominent scholars throughout history. Meier's many questions and hypotheses are always considered and balanced, and often more than intriguing -- particularly interesting to me is the way in which he contrasts Caesar as a mover of events and as one being moved along by them at various times in this turbulent period. I often got the impression that I was reading the work of a scholar who was happy to free himself from the usual academic restraints and was simply letting all of his ideas and questions out of the bag, and that's refreshing. Meier does a fine job of synthesizing the life and career of a complicated, restless man and the development of a very complex era into a readable and fascinating book -- he covers all the various aspects of Caesar's life in a balanced way (the brilliant general, the ambitious politician, the shrewd diplomat, the writer, etc.). It's a bit plodding in spots, and it would help the reader to know the basic outline of the period before delving into the book, but overall it's a great read. This is one of the best biographies of Caesar available. My only gripes are the total absence of ANY references and the sloppy editing of this edition: the former was Meier's choice, the latter the oversight of the publisher of this edition.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A verbose but brilliant biography of Julius Caesar., August 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Caesar: A Biography (Hardcover)

Meier's biography of Julius Caesar is admirable more for its exploration of historic transformation than for its nuts-and-bolts summary of Caesar's life. Meier's thesis, which is hard to contest, is that the ruling class which Caesar replaced was so inneffectual that it essentially committed suicide. Julius Caesar was the man who drove the sword through.

Like all pivotal figures in history, Caesar was faciliated by the tenor of his time, but it's difficult to imagine any of his comtemporaries equalling his accomplishments had he not existed. Meier describes both these external and internal forces well in his portrait of the man.

Unfortunately, this biography doesn't work as an introduction to Caesar. It's verbose, assumes a decent working knowledge of Roman history, and is too often tangential for the average reader. Better to start with Michael Grant's "History of Rome" before concentrating on more specific studies such as Meier's.

Nonetheless, "Caesar" is particularly recommended for students of political history. Meier strives, without being preachy or contentious, to highlight patterns in Caesar's rise (and the Roman Republic's fall) that continue to operate in our time - not the least of which is the inability of an elite to realize it is no longer relevant.

Give it a go.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good book for enthusiasts, not as an entry biography, September 14, 2000

By 

Tony Quain - See all my reviews

This review is from: Caesar: A Biography (Hardcover)

I read this book to try to get an idea of who Caeser was, what his accomplishments were, and how the Roman Republic was transformed into an Empire. While this book did fulfill those goals, it was difficult to finish. To his credit, Meier drives home important points about his subject: the influence of Sulla, the importance of the achievement ethic, the paradox of the reactionary regime, so forth. But much of the book is not very understandable or interesting to a reader who is not avidly versed in Roman Republican history. In this sense, while I thought the book too long and drawn out, I would almost need to read it again to get most of the authors points! So, this is a good second book on Caesar, not the introduction I was hoping for. Finally, the end is quite abrupt, as only a few pages are dedicated to explaining the adoption of Augustus and Caesar's assasination, and Meier does not summarize well the lasting effect Caesar's legacy had on the Empire to be.