The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian by Robin Lane Fox Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.62 You Save: $31.38 (90%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $3.61 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian
Book Review: A real tour de force
Summary: 5 Stars
If you've ever wanted to delve into Classical history but have always felt put off by the kind of high-brow, donnish aura that surrounds the subject, then this is the book for you.I don't mean by this that the book is "dumbed-down", far from it; Lane Fox has written a gripping, accessible account of the great Greek and Roman civilisations upon which Western society still stands. He is an absolute master of sources and stories, and weaves them together into a cogent whole. This is a book not just about the princes, philosophers and Emperors but about the entire classical societies of Greece and Rome. It feels like you're there yourself.
Book Review: Olympian in every sense
Summary: 5 Stars
Robin Lane Fox, best known probably for his books on Alexander, has written here one of the best overviews of the great sweep of classical Greek and Roman history, from the emergence of preclassical Greece to its second coming, so to speak, under Hadrian, that most philhellenic of Romans. Urbane but enthusiastic, revealing an immense culture very lightly, Lane Fox is unashamedly narrative in his approach, refreshingly so compared to many books on the topic.
Essentially a Hellenist, he is perhaps unfair to some of the Romans - especially to the emperor Augustus whose achievements as a ruler surely n atone for his lack of appeal as a man. Both Homer's world at the book's start, and that of the emperor Hadrian at the book's end, were essentially aristocratic. Although Lane Fox treats the rise and fall of Athenian democracy very favourably, his general viewpoint is also elevated, unfashionably. He concentrates on political and military events, rather ignoring cultural factors. For Greece especially, this is an omission. But overall, while his Olympian narrative may not impress some specialists, it will probably still be read with fascination and appreciation long after more reductionist works have been forgotten. Lane Fox stands firmly and deservedly in the grand narrative tradition of Gibbon.
Book Review: A cracking good read
Summary: 4 Stars
Robin Lane Fox bears his learning lightly in this excellent account of the history of ancient Greece & Rome down to around 120 AD. He manages to keep the big story going along all the time while adding enough detail to catch the interest in a very comprehensive & comprehensible way. I did begin to lose the plot in the lead up to the Roman Civil War, but I don't think I'm the first to suffer from that!Book Review: Classical History - Short, Sweet, Elegant
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an outstanding sweep across hundreds of years of Classical Greek and Roman history by a very fine scholar with a well-tuned popular touch.
Ranging from the poet Homer in the 7th century BCE, to the Roman 'First Citizen' Hadrian surveying his empire from the Tyne to the Euphrates, Lane Fox communicates a lifetime experience of teaching the Classics in one compact volume, deliciously divided into chapters which can capture an era or event in one pre-sleep bite! His view is even handed, but his enthusiasm for figures such as Pliny and Cicero shine out. He also has a soft spot for gardeners...
This is an excellent starting point for further reading, with excellent and easily usable notes and bibliographies. The illustrations are fascinatingly discussed in an appendix. I especially enjoyed the careful modern nuances that alluded to 'spin' and 'regime change' - these can be clumsy in lesser writers, but they were revealing and apposite here.
A very very fine book covering a vital aspect of human history, and essential to fully understand the Western World with all its achievements, weaknesses and cruelties.
Book Review: A great introduction to classical history
Summary: 5 Stars
This book has been a fabulous introduction to the classical world, it's culture, and beliefs. Robin Lane Fox speaks with authority, but never seeks to impress the reader with his own intellect. A vast area of history introduced with an articulate and entertaining hand.
More The Classical World: An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian reviews:
1 2
1 2