Customer Reviews

A pillar of iron

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I read Pillar of Iron some years back and, when I saw that it is still available for purchase through Amazaon, and that I could write a review of it, I decided to take advantage of both opportunities.

I recently read a reviewer's commentaries panning the book as poorly researched, based on the near fictitious relationship between Cicero and Caesar, and the spiritual slant taken on Cicero's personality (and the Romans in general) as being too "Christian".

I am no more put off by Caldwell's liberties taken with such obvious fictionalization as the two C's relationship, then I was with Schaeffer's liberties taken with those between Mozart and Sallieri. It is obvious to me that Caldwell needed to beef up the characers for fiction, and she did it in a way that brought city life in Roman times very much alive, and succeeded in portraying Cicero as a man moved more by his spirituality than by pragmatic politics, which I believe to be true, based on his own writings. From rush hour in Rome to Casesar's divorce, and the ingenious interweaving of Cicero's deeply moving original texts and landscape fiction, Caldwell's book is worthy of high praise.

I read this book while taking Economics in high school about 1 week ago. It was the highlight of the course. Thanks Mrs. Mara! I kick myself for not keeping a copy. It is a good story from one perspective of life in Rome. Cicero was among the first to habitually publish his writings and speeches (it was one of his greatest sources of income). However, since it is he was writing about, they were somewhat subjective. Another spin on Cicero, Caesar, and others can be found in the novels by Colleen McCullough. She begins her historical fiction tales from the time just before the birth of Cicero and Caesar and continues through the death of both. The series is several books and covers the Roman lifestyle in much greater depth. Very good reading.

You know, I do agree with the rest of the reviewers that this book is flawed in historical accuracy, in more ways than one. However, this is classified as historical fiction, therefore, I do not expect every detail to be perfect.

Rather, I wish that they could appreciate this book for its literary value. Caldwell does a wonderful job of writing in a coherent way that most should appreciate (since that can be rare, nowadays!), and learn from. She wrote her interpretaion of Cicero's life, and the city in which he lived.

By all means, do not stop learning your Roman history here! Read from different authors about different people. Is that not the beauty of our world? To enrich our minds with many sources, so as to draw our own conclusion?

I admit, I loved this book. It was an exciting and interesting read, about one of the most well known men Rome had ever seen. Try also reading "The Flames of Rome" by Paul Maier, or "The Roman Way" by Edith Hamilton. Those can give one a broader view of Roman society!

The first time I read this book I was thirteen. Heavy reading for a kid, but I loved it. I carried it around the house and outside and just could not put it down. I understand that some of it is fiction to give depth to the charcaters and intrigue to the story, but from other books I've read on Cicero it's more than moderately accurate. I think this is a wonderful description of Cicero as a man, not just an orator, and I'd recommend that anyone interested in the old Rome should read this and everything about Cicero.

This book has to be taken as a novel. Anybody trying to find deep research and historical accuracy in it will be definitely dissapointed. I agree that some simple historical facts are structured in it and imagination filles in between. Many other facts are deliberately tergiversated so as to make Cicero a more appealing character to a modern christian non-erudite-in-Roman-issues reader.

However, I think that Caldwell's deep admiration for Cicero is transmitted to the reader. Part of that historical inaccuracy is what makes of this a wonderful novel. Not only displays a rich and aesthetical environment for Cicero's life, but portraits a really inspiring man. Great book!

Encountering Taylor Caldwell after a layoff of 35 years instilled a new axiom in me: never reread the favorite authors of one's youth. They read better in memory than in mature analysis.

Taylor Caldwell brings craftsmanship and writing skill to "A Pillar of Iron," but beyond that, her novel is talky and historically inaccurate. Focusing on a heroic Cicero who never really existed, "A Pillar of Iron" seems mostly a showcase for its author's mid-twentieth century political concerns. I'd love to see Cicero's reputation revived but don't think Caldwell has really succeeded in doing that here.

This is an altogether silly book. Its tone -- and purpose -- may be judged from the central point in its introduction: "If Cicero were alive in the America of today, he would be aghast and appalled. He would find it all so familiar."* Right. Cicero's computer would crash and he'd say "Dang that Windows Vista. No better than it was back in 45BC."

Elsewhere in that introduction Caldwell identifies her political heroes as Barry Goldwater and John F Kennedy, the latter recently murdered. In today's political scene, that is like saying one admires equally Barack Obama and Dick Cheney.

Beyond inventions to drive her fiction -- a legitimate device -- Caldwell skews the personality of Cicero almost beyond recognition.. Though he wrote beautiful Latin and was a fine orator (though, by his own admission, not so fine as Caesar), Cicero was otherwise a jerk. He consistently compromised his ideals (putting Romans to death without trials, for example); he favored the rich over the masses; he spent most of his life kowtowing to the patricians ("nobles") and hoping to be accepted by them; and he displayed utter cowardice when challenged to live up to his principles.

If the purpose of this book were merely to entertain, it would be silly enough. But it was meant as a contribution to the politics of mid-century America. And that makes it entirely silly.

*I think this quote is verbatim, but it's from memory (I read the book over 40 years ago) so it may be off a bit.

I only finished this book because each page was a new revelation in how *not* to write a book. Turgid, redundant prose; cardboard characters; plodding plot -- Caldwell has them all. Most risible is the way she interlards her wooly-headed pseudo-philosophizing throughout. Wait, no; most risible is the way she feels it necessary to cast her hero as some sort of proto-Christian devoutly inquiring after the prophesies of the Jews and awaiting the coming messiah. Even the history of the period is perverted, glossed-over, and twisted to suit her desire for eschatological analogy. There is absolutely nothing of value in this book.

I read this book, when it was first released (about 65).
For me, it became a "hand book of life". Ï aspire to lead such a life & have the courage of a Cicero, having regard to human, ethical & political values.
I confese to being negilgent - I have not read any of Cicero's writings. The book is a "keeper", get a copy & pass it on to your offspring - regardless of your religion.

Excellent book based on the author's original translations from the Latin. Brings the life of Cicero and his contemporaries to life.