Customer Reviews

The Story of the Romans (Yesterday's Classics)

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

 

 

I read "The Story of the Romans" as a child in the 1920s. It opened my eyes to ancient history. I still remember the picture of Horatiius at the bridge. The two sides in a war (probably the Athenians and the Spartans) had chosen five soldiers from each side to determine the outcome. As I recall, Horatius led one side, perhaps all brothers. All the others on his side has been killed, so he ran until those on the other side had strung out. Then he turned and slew them one by one, the last one, I suppose was at the bridge, where the picture showed him with his short sword raised above his helmented head. I hope to find the book for my grandchildren.

I've been reading The Story of the Romans to my fifth-grader before bed each night and have found it to be a clearly-written, child-friendly history of Rome that holds not only his attention, but mine as well. The chapters are short, the sentences are not overly-complex, and the vocabulary is simple. The book is a good introduction to classical civilization for any young student who likes history, has had some exposure to Greek and Roman mythology, or just wonders why we still make so many contemporary references to Ancient Rome.

Skip the boring, tedious textbooks! Guerber brings history facts to life in story book fashion. I am convinced that children would enjoy learning history in school if they could read from books like this rather than from textbooks. My 6th grade home-schooler read this a few chapters at a time while we were studying Ancient Rome. He always wanted to keep reading farther than what I had assigned him for that day. I highly recommend this book for 5th through 8th graders. We also enjoyed "The Story of the Greeks" by the same author.

We are fortunate that our children go to a great school and we do not need to homeschool them. Nevertheless, I am impressed by the emphasis on classical education that some homeschoolers advocate. Susan Wise Bauer in her book, "The Well Trained Mind" sets out a program on how to educate children on world history. Following her plan, my son and I read six months of Greek history and literature and we are now moving onto a six month rotation of Roman studies. "The Story of the Romans" is the first book we have read this semester and it will provide a solid foundation for the books we will soon be reading.

When H.A. Guerber published this book in 1922, well educated children learned Latin in school. She envisioned "The Story of Romans" as an introduction to Roman history for children who would soon be moving onto the study of Latin. Although there are a few illustrations in the original edition that I purchased, this is a book that relies more on text than imagery. It is this emphasis on story over pictures that separates it from many of the current children's books on Roman history. Some of Guerber's words are a little antiquated but she is a good story teller and she gets through a thousand years of Roman history with admirable professionalism. Finally, I would recommend that you purchase an original edition of this book. They can be purchased at a decent price and a young child will enjoy the feeling of holding onto an old book.

This should not be sold as a finished product. The black-and-white pictures are almost totally faded into white and cannot be made out at all. It has an index but no page numbers, and there are copied, handwritten underlines in the text. The work itself is very well-done and useful in content, it's just a shame it has been produced in such a poor edition.

I used this book in our homeschool studies of ancient Rome, but gave up after about 30 short chapters. I found the narrative very condescending and prejudiced, and actually skipped or censored several parts. The author obviously preferred and defended Roman culture/politics over all others from that time, even when Rome was clearly in the wrong. The text also lacks footnotes, so it is impossible to differentiate the author's opinion from fact.

Frankly, I am surprised to see this book recommended in so many Charlotte Mason circles, as it is as far as one can get from a living book.