Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping and detailed account of a turbulent time in history, March 24, 2003
Among the many statues of national heroes in London is one of Boudicca, the Queen of the Iceni (a Celtic tribe) who led a major revolt against the Roman occupiers in 61 AD. The event is usually portrayed as some sort of national uprising, which it was not: the Celtic Britons were intensely tribal and many of the victims of the revolt were Britons who belonged to other tribes. But it remains embedded in British national consciousness.
This highly detailed and well-written novel purports to be the memoir of Suetonius Paulinus, the Roman general who finally - and against huge odds, given the military resources at his disposal - crushed the uprising. It gets inside his mind, which is a fascinating, if chilly place. Suetonius is the consummate professional soldier and he succeeds because of his professionalism and his refusal to panic when all seems lost. But he has no respect for the people he has been sent from distant Rome to govern, and as events proceed this develops into a blind hatred for the rebels. This brings him into dispute with his political masters in Rome, who want a quick "reconstruction", and causes his downfall.
The account of life in the Roman army, how it worked (and conquered almost all its foes in the process), and of the mind set of its commanders is absolutely gripping. The author takes you back to a totally different time, a different society, a different way of thinking, and immerses you.
I first read this book some thirty years ago. When it was reprinted I went back to it and think I have gained even more from it now. If you are interested in the ancient world, this is a must-read.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a many-sided, brilliant work of historical fiction, August 20, 2003
I first read a library copy of George Shipways Imperial Governor shortly after it was published in 1968. I've reread it twice since, books checked out a decade apart from libraries half a continent apart. With the passing years, the novel has become increasingly elusive. Its reissue in a new paperback edition is a service to all readers of historical fiction.
Imperial Governor is a non-New Age, non-Wicca, and non-feminist novel of Boudiccas great revolt in 61 A. D. (in other words, it is historically accurate and does not view the Iceni as lovable proto-hippies). The novel is extremely well written. It is, roughly speaking, an autobiographical history of the revolt as seen by Suetonius Paulinus, the Roman governor and brilliant general whose army outnumbered more than ten to one crunched the tribal armies of Queen Boudicca into pieces.
The depiction of barely conquered Roman Britain circa 60 AD is by itself worth the price of the novel. When I bought this paperback version I felt (echoing an earlier reviewer) as if Id made contact again with an old and valued friend.
The portrait of Paulinus is absorbing, not least because he is a Roman of the Old School and so his personality is on the chilly side. Our narrator can be likeable and amusing and is certainly brave and efficient, but he is also ruthless, demanding and vindictive. The general is a just man, at least by his own lights, but not merciful. He is often -- without regret -- brutal. In Britain to conquer and rule, Paulinus is incapable of seeing rebellious Britons as anything but destructive savages. As governor he dominates this novel but is not exactly its hero. Nor is he meant to be.
Separated from us by nearly 2,000 years, naturally Paulinuss values, amusements and ethics are different from our own. That this makes him a man with whom modern readers are not always comfortable adds realism to his story. Shipway neither softens Paulinus nor apologizes for him, one of the strengths of this fine, subtle novel.
Imperial Governor has a decidedly downbeat but appropriate conclusion. Although Paulinus has led his army to a string of shattering victories, he leaves the island a failure. He has won Rome glory but not gold; his triumphant army is viewed as an economic liability. His future in the capital is bleak and perilous; his recall a sign that the expansionist Rome of the Republic and early Empire has irretrievably changed.
Cold and harsh he may be, but S. Paulinus is vigorous and competent as well. I could not help but think that this ancient Roman's methods would, in one way, be a solution to America's current troubles in a disintegrating Iraq, offensive as they would be to contemporary morality. The oil would be flowing again in no time, but the price would be Iraqi casualities in the millions. The Romans inflicted comparable casualities, given the difference in populations, in subduing Boudicca's revolt and during the retribution that followed.
Paulinus is a first-rate imperial governor, with all that the adjective "imperial" implies. The book suggests that his is the only successful model for expanding imperial states to follow. Of course, Shipway's many-sided novel also shows the many costs, overt and hidden, of imperial rule. Perhaps the general, or at least the situation he faces, may have more in common with contemporary America than I thought.
Read this excellent book. Decide for yourself.
A final note: readers who enjoy Imperial Governor should make it a point to read Wallace Breem's neglected masterpiece Eagle in the Snow. They'll find it a treat, the kind of historical novel one dreams about stumbling upon but hardly ever does. Taken together, the two works are bookends for Roman involvement in Britain, with the first taking place shortly after the original conquest and the latter set three and a half centuries later as the last Roman military presence in the island is being removed.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping and detailed account of a turbulent time in history, March 24, 2003
Among the many statues of national heroes in London is one of Boudicca, the Queen of the Iceni (a Celtic tribe) who led a major revolt against the Roman occupiers in 61 AD. The event is usually portrayed as some sort of national uprising, which it was not: the Celtic Britons were intensely tribal and many of the victims of the revolt were Britons who belonged to other tribes. But it remains embedded in British national consciousness.
This highly detailed and well-written novel purports to be the memoir of Suetonius Paulinus, the Roman general who finally - and against huge odds, given the military resources at his disposal - crushed the uprising. It gets inside his mind, which is a fascinating, if chilly place. Suetonius is the consummate professional soldier and he succeeds because of his professionalism and his refusal to panic when all seems lost. But he has no respect for the people he has been sent from distant Rome to govern, and as events proceed this develops into a blind hatred for the rebels. This brings him into dispute with his political masters in Rome, who want a quick "reconstruction", and causes his downfall.
The account of life in the Roman army, how it worked (and conquered almost all its foes in the process), and of the mind set of its commanders is absolutely gripping. The author takes you back to a totally different time, a different society, a different way of thinking, and immerses you.
I first read this book some thirty years ago. When it was reprinted I went back to it and think I have gained even more from it now. If you are interested in the ancient world, this is a must-read.
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