Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
Book Review: Excellent and Relevant
Summary: 5 Stars
A very well written, fast moving history of the late Roman Republic and it's transformation into an Empire. The author is very good at explaining the motivations and goals of all the major players in the fall of the Republic in a way that is entertaining and effortless to absord.
And, without explicitly drawing parallels to current history, Holland allows us to see our current global situation in the mirror of late Roman Republic politics.
It is all there, the venal, but publicly virtuous politicians and business leaders, the suborning of foreign policy to economic gain, the military adventures to cement political and business goals. The de-facto disenfranchisment of the citizenery while the real decision makers make and break leaders.
Highly recomended, especially if you enjoy Robert Kaplan, Robert Kagan or Victor Hanson.
Book Review: Roman history is very relevent today
Summary: 5 Stars
The idea that average people need to know history, especially ancient Roman history, has fallen by the wayside in the last several decades. The problem this leads too, naturally enough, is that the people in a democracy loose site when their elected leaders start to repeat the mistakes of the past. Roman history is filled with people who made mistakes, often times for all the right reasons. Caesar is such a personality. Caesar would contend that he was simply moving to protect the people of the Republic from what was extensive corruption in the systems that governed Rome.
Tyrants rarely come to power saying they are going to enslave the masses and restrict the rights of the average citizen. They always claim, and in many cases truly believe, that they are moving to protect the average men and women of the time. However, in attacking the rights of the powerful, they often end up also restricting the rights of everybody. -- Restriction of civil rights in order to protect and preserve them... this appears to lead to parallels with out own times.
To put to this another way, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".
Even after the Republic had passed and the Empire was in full swing, there was still much to admire in the Romans. "To protect the weak and make humble the proud". Not a bad motto, and they even lived up to it from time to time.
Julius Caesar, in "crossing the Rubicon" didn't know that he was changing everything. The problem is that everything didn't happen on that day. Most events that lead to the Empire had already passed: Sulla's dictatorship had been a defacto empire; the Gracchus brothers had tried reform before and been slapped down -- hard and dead.
It is possible that any large scale nation state, given sufficient size and power, becomes an empire at some point. After all, if Rome, Britain, revolutionary France and other great nations couldn't avoid it that may mean that the only real hope is to embrace the beast and do it well while possibly making some good come from it.
This fine book provides a very good discussion of the transition period from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.
Book Review: The Die is Cast - and other Roman cliches
Summary: 4 Stars
What parallels might be drawn between the present-day United States and the Roman Republic before Julius Caesar took over? It's a fascinating question, and one that seems to be an inspiration to Tom Holland, as he mentions it in the introduction to Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic. Or, maybe it wasn't one, since this is the last time he mentions it. The reader is left to his/her own conclusions on this issue, but unfortunately the back cover draws attention to this aspect making you think that's what the book is going to be about.Instead, he gives us a history of the fall of the Republic, from the late 2nd century BC to the death of Caesar in 44 BC. Holland covers all the wars, civil unrest and the decline of senatorial power as he shows us the events leading to dictatorship. The history is dotted with colourful characters (from Caesar to Spartacus to Cleopatra and beyond) and Holland brings them all to life, often in their own words. In doing so, Holland has produced a very readable account, meticulously researched, that will make anybody with even a mild interest in this time period clamour for more.
Holland begins (also in his introduction) by talking about the amount of information from this time period that we have access to, as it's one of the most recorded periods in ancient history. Yet even so, it's impossible to take everything written as fact, immune to different interpretations. Instead, it's a minefield where historians have to tread carefully.
"In short, the reader should take it as a rule of thumb that many statements of fact in this book could plausibly be contradicted by an opposite interpretation." Pg xx (introduction)
This is all well and good, and I'm glad that he warned us. While all history is subject to interpretation (or even outright lies, depending on what the sources are and how biased they are), the further back you go the worse it gets. However, one thing I wish Holland would have done is to acknowledge this within the text as well. It would have been interesting to see him discuss a couple of interpretations of conflicting events as he told us about them, something like:
{XX happened, according to Plutarch, but other accounts say YY happened. It seems logical to assume, given the equipment involved, that a combination of XX and YY is what truly happened.}
Instead, we get one narrative with a warning at the beginning that, we have to remember, this may not be the right one.
Holland uses a wealth of primary sources as well as sources written within the next 100-200 years after the fall of the Republic. This brings the issues sharply into focus as we get a closer look at what these people had to deal with. However, part of this goes back to the issue of bias and interpretation. Some the sources (Cicero is the primary example, but there are others) are heavily involved with these events, thus making their stories slightly suspect (or at least biased). Yes, we have to keep in mind Holland's warning in the introduction, but it's easy to lose track of this as you read the narrative.
That being said, the narrative Holland gives us is wonderful. He is very detailed, giving us somewhat of a history of each character as he introduces him/her. While this is not a history of Roman culture, but of government, he gives us enough information to get an idea of why these events were so monumental. We see the value Romans put in to their Republic and the fact that the people were able to vote on things (though of course it wasn't like our modern-day voting, where anybody can do it). With each step toward the abyss, we see the inevitability of what happened. The benefits of hindsight are wonderful, and perhaps that's where Holland's reference to current events should be placed. As we read about Marius and Sulla and other Romans who tried to enhance their own power at the expense of the Senate, are there any "characters" hanging around right now who are doing similar things?
Another place Holland excels is in keeping the various names of Roman characters straight (Gaius This and Gaius That). I've always found confusing who's who in the Roman Empire, but Holland helps this immensely. Even so, at times I had to stop and think who he was talking about, but the clearness of the narrative makes it a lot easier to keep organized in my brain. This also applies to the sometimes confusing events. Barbarians to the North, uppity kings to the East, slave revolts and other major events all combine to bring down the once mighty empire and allow one man to rise to the top to save it (dispensing with that pesky "the people decide" aspect, however). Holland is a radio personality in Britain, and I think this gives him the ability to break down the events in ways that are easier to understand. The author's description mentions he has a PhD, but it doesn't say in what, so I have no idea if it's in history or not. Even so, he seems to have done his research and presented it in an easily readable, and more importantly, fascinating narrative.
For an introduction into the Roman Republic (and especially for those of you who thought Roman history *began* with Julius Caesar), this is a great book. Do yourself a favour and pick it up.
David Roy
Book Review: A Masterpiece of History, Storytelling, and Style.
Summary: 5 Stars
A remarkable acheivement. It has been a long time since a book captivated me as much this one did. Mr. Holland is a gifted writer. It is my sincere hope he continues to write histories like "Rubicon". This is truly one of the best books to come along in a long time. The book is a pure inspiration to anyone interested in History, Rome, or just superb English prose.Tom, the writing of this book was a "Discrimen" for you. Publish your Novels. But, please, give the world your Histories. Follow the bent of your genius: Potentissimus est qui se habet in potestate.
Book Review: superb
Summary: 5 Stars
This would be very high in my list of top ten books I have read in the last 20 years. Why? Because Tom Holland has brought the entire play of the fall of the Roman Republic to life. He portrays each of the main characters (and there are a lot of them) as real people, giving sound reasons as to who is friend and foe and why. Rather than telling the tale of each person as a separate story, all events are interwoven together. Typical of all politicians nobody is honest and nobody is entirely good either - though mostly they are all rich. Parallels abound between then and now, particularly with regards to big business and what drives government, though Mr Holland wisely never eludes to this and allows us to draw the conclusion. I was left wondering who was the real villian, the rest look just as bad as Caesar - and they all have their own agendas. All in all an excellent, eminently readable, un-put-downable book. Just a pity it isn't longer. I look forward to a sequel.