Customer Reviews

Caesar: Life of a Colossus

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wasn't able to put this book down. It was so informative at the time. I read it last year when I really didn't know much about Rome, but now due in part because of this book I love ancient history! A great book for noobs, easy to follow.

The subtitle, Life Of a Colossus, just says it all. Caesar`s life story is something people will always be interested in. Adrian Goldsworthy takes the reader through every single detail of Caesar`s life. I have also read Caesar`s War Commentaries, and I found the two books complimented each other.
Goldsworthy is a military historian, so he is at his best describing Caesar`s battle tactics. I also thought his description of Roman politics, was very well done.
I highly recommend this book, to anyone that has an interest in the world of ancient Rome.

Top drawer reading folks. If you want to understand Caesar and his world, buy this book. It is riveting and it has a way of making you feel that you are there witnessing first hand, the life of Rome, Gaul, Britain, and Caesar 2,000 years ago. There is not one ounce of disappointment in this book.
Mickey Moulder

Goldsworthy has managed to deliver a powerful portrait of one of the most important figures in Roman history. He provides enough context to allow even the reader who is not so familiar with the events he shaped (and those which shaped him) with a good sense of what might in effect have happened, and what pushed the players to act the way they did. From our perspective, Rome was a screwed up city to live in, no matter what class of the society you belonged. Goldsworthy if fair in his treatment, and do not appear to glorify his subject, a plus in my book.

I thought this book was very well written, making the character of Caesar more interesting by the page. A friend I loaned the book to agreed with me that this was a great biography of the man. Caesar was obviously a great man with many talents, and this book highlighted each one. A great read.

An excellent combination of page turning story telling and academic scholarship. Definitely one of the best Roman History books I have had the pleasure of reading. Those who see Caesar as a butcher and destroyer of the Republic may disagree with Goldsworthy's portrayal. I believe it is an accurate and even handed portrayal of the Republic's most famous figure.

La biographie, un genre que je n'apprécie pas beaucoup, demeure un excellent moyen de mieux comprendre l'époque de César. Dans le genre, celle-ci répond exactement à ce que nous nous attendons.