Customer Reviews

The Roman News

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This thin book is certainly very attractive with its many graphics and easygoing style and probably in the end does stimulate interest for younger readers to try to find out more. It would have been nice however if some controversial conclusions about Roman history were not presented as fact. For example, it is not universally agreed that Romulus was an historical person or that 753 BC is the actual date of the founding of the city. While I fully realize that the conceit of the book is that it is supposed to be a view of the world as the Romans themselves saw it, that does not excuse giving wrong information. Anyway, the Romans certainly did not use the term BC which is freely used here. And these are not the only cases. It would have been nice if the Colosseum were also given its proper name for example, the Flavian Amphitheater. It is surprising to see Diocletian criticized for dividing the empire as this is not universally considered harmful by historians. And so on. I'm not entirely sure I agree with the ordering of the book either. Initially it goes in chronological order and then this is totally abandoned as one skips ahead to Constantine, then back to Vespasian, forward to Hadrian, etc. Overall, the book is worth buying, but an annotated guide to go with it would be quite helpful.

This book imitates the typical newspaper format. An index indicates the various events that were pivotal for the development of Roman culture and government.

The events portion is set up chronologically, but the other sections cover societal topics such as sports, political life, women's pages, food pages.

The graphics are colorful and include illustrations, charts, and maps in imitation of modern newspapers and magazines.

It was interesting to us and it is our belief that the similarity to modern print media will intrigue students.

I liked this book and think kids will have fun with it. It contains very good information, much of it I didn't know and tells it in a fun way. It makes Roman History come alive and not be so distant.

This was a great addition to the study of ancient Rome. It is engaging for multiple age ranges. I love how theae books are in newspaper format. We have also used The Greek Times and like it as well.