Anyone wanting an intensely vivid portrait of the history, politics and culture of the last years of the Roman Republic will want to read this book. Dictator is the third book of a series by Richard Harris based on the life of Marcus Tullius Cicero. The first book, Imperium, covers Cicero’s youth and his rise […]
My New Novel, In the Wake of Hannibal, is Now Available on Amazon and Kindle
July 18, 2016 By Leave a Comment
My new novel, in the Wake of Hannibal is now available on Amazon and Kindle. The Death of Carthage told the story of the Second Punic War, between Rome and Carthage, from the point of view of the Romans. In the Wake of Hannibal tells the same story from the point of view of the […]
Book Review: Galba’s Men by L.J. Trafford
July 7, 2016 By Leave a Comment
L.J. Trafford’s account of life in Caesar’s palace on the Palatine Hill is a sort of Upstairs Downstairs writ large. Upstairs are Caesar and his family, cronies and sycophants; downstairs are a multitude of slaves and freedmen, some of who are influential enough to influence the course of affairs of state. Keeping track of, and […]
Book Review: Call to Juno by Elizabeth Storr
May 22, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Call to Juno is a magnificent novel of the war between Rome and it close neighbor, the Etruscan city of Veii which took place between 406 and 396 BC. It is dramatic, impeccably researched and a compelling read. Storr renders the cultural and religious practices of both Romans and Etruscans in stunning detail. The ancients […]
Book Review: America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
May 12, 2016 By 2 Comments
America’s first daughter is an impressive accomplishment. One may easily perceive the many painstaking hours of dedicated research that went into the creation of this novel, and the effort has paid off handsomely. Thomas Jefferson, like the country he did so much to birth, was a great but flawed being. The major birth defect of […]
Book Review: Dark Money by Jane Mayer
March 26, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Have you wondered about what has happened to our country during the past forty years or so? Have you wondered how it is that nearly all of the wealth created has come to be in the hands of a very few extraordinarily wealthy people? Have you wondered why the American middle class has gone into […]
Book Review: The Death of Caesar, by Barry Strauss
March 17, 2016 By Leave a Comment
The assassination of Julius Caesar was a critical event in western history. It led to the end of the oligarchic Roman Republic and to the establishment of a monarchy as Rome continued to expand and dominate much of Europe and the Middle East. Barry Strauss has examined all of the near-contemporary literature about the assassination […]
Book Review: The Daughters of the Palatine by Phyllis T Smith
March 7, 2016 By Leave a Comment
I loved I Claudius, but I would have to say that I found Phyllis T. Smith’s The Daughters of the Palatine a more plausible version of that happened to the Julio-Claudian dynasty during the reign of Augustus than Robert Graves’ version. The Daughters of Palatine Hill is narrated by three women, Livia, the Wife of […]
Book Review: Goddess of Fire by Bharti Kirchner
February 28, 2016 By 1 Comment
Of all of the cruel customs and practices that human societies have invented, the practice of sati, the immolation of a wife on her deceased husband’s funeral pyre, is among the most appalling. The widow’s own in-laws, who in other societies are expected to protect and support her, force the widow to undergo this painful […]
Follow Us!