A History of Rome [Paperback]

Marcel Le Glay (Author), Jean-Louis Voisin (Author), Yann Le Bohec (Author), David Cherry (Author), Donald G. Kyle (Author), Eleni Manolaraki (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1405183276 | ISBN-13: 978-1405183277 | Publication Date: January 27, 2009 | Edition: 4

Spanning 1,300 years, this popular history of Rome has been thoroughly revised and updated, reinforcing its stature as an indispensable resource on the history and enduring influence of one of the world's greatest empires.

• New format: two-color text throughout; new pedagogical features, such as glossary terms in margins; chronological tables and genealogies are made clearer for student use
• Includes revised text throughout, updated guides to further reading, and new sources for Roman history
• Expands coverage of the late Republic period
• Retains its emphasis on the importance of multi-disciplinary interpretations of literary sources and new archaeological evidence

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The fourth edition of this highly successful text retains the virtues of its predecessors while judiciously revising, expanding, and updating the presentation of material. In its new form A History of Rome will continue to provide excellent support for courses in Roman history, culture, and society.”
Richard Tarrant, Harvard University

“The new edition of this comprehensive and widely-used history of ancient Rome improves an already valuable and authoritative textbook, augmenting the range of maps and illustrations, expanding the historical horizons with additional literary material and discussion of inscriptional evidence, and updating the notes on further reading. The combination of visual material and detailed narrative offers a vivid and multidimensional perspective on the most powerful and enduringly influential of ancient empires.”
Alan Bowman, University of Oxford

Praise for the third edition:

"Edition 3 maintains a good balance betweena general survey and a deeper analysis of Roman history, combining a traditional biographical and factual approach with thematic discussions of socio-political developments and institutions. I highly recommend all the new materials for both personal research and classroom use."
Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"A History of Rome is a solid textbook. With a strong and topical vision of the city's political, military and cultural history, the empire is brought firmly into the picture."
Antiquity

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell; 4 edition (January 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1405183276
• ISBN-13: 978-1405183277
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 1.2 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Never again, March 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A History of Rome, Second Edition (Paperback)

I ordered this book for my undergraduate Roman history class before I realized what a piece of crap it was. Get Michael Grant's book instead, or Cary and Scullard's, old as it is. Anything else: I spend valuable time in class and outside it propping up this book because of its many defects. The text consists of a mishmash of poorly-organized subheadings, randomly-inserted series of bullet points and "feature" boxes. There is no sense of the big picture, which is so important for undergraduates, and no way of assessing which material is more important, and which is trivial (and there's a lot of trivial material in here.) One of my colleagues calls it "dog barf": a mix of subjects with no organization or overarching analysis. The writing is filled with phrases in quotation marks that have no sources cited -- exactly what I tell my students NOT to do in their papers. The translated French sentences with their long series of subclauses and odd syntax are difficult reading. The images are if possible even worse. The text refers to objects like the warrior of Capestrano as if everyone were expected to know what it was (why would they be taking Roman history if they did?) which are not illustrated. There is no map which shows where Dacia, Pannonia, or Germania are, all regions which are hugely important in understanding the empire. The periodically inserted plans of Rome (whose references reveal they are essentially xeroxed from other people's books) mark the outlined buildings with numbers, but nowhere is there a KEY. I can't believe the editors passed this thing twice. I'm going to scrutinize offerings from Blackwell much more carefully from now on.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A concise look at Rome's History, September 29, 2002

By 

Nicholas Tatrallyay (Budapest, Hungary) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A History of Rome, Second Edition (Paperback)

Marcel Le Glay et al's History of Rome was the first History book on Rome I read. The book was relatively well written, and took an interesting look on Rome's decline. Unfortunately, it focused largely on the Leaders and the royal/imperial families of Rome; the book tended to focus more on their lives then on the Roman Empire's history itself. The section on Augustus was thorough and very interesting. The middle and end of the book were especially good, but the beginning lacked detail. There is an absence of information on this part of Rome's history, and the book tended to breifly talk about important events during those 500 years. The book's examination on the culture of the Roman Empire I find is much too succinct. For its brevity it was excellent; it is admirable that one can write such a tasteful book in such small space. If one wants a helpful guide to the entire history of Rome pick up this book.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The History of Rome in Its Greatest Form, May 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A History of Rome (1st Edition) (Paperback)

This book truly got me reading more in depth in Roman History. I've read other Roman History books for instence, The Roman Empire by Colin Welles, and Roman Provincial Administration by J. S. Richardson and this was in a league of its own. Le Glay and compatriots made A History of Rome very enjoyable. Truthfully, I had a hard time putting the book down. This book deserves 5 stars.