This book was a quick read, well-written, and a good overview. A few parts (such as the section on World War II) seemed a bit thin, but there are other good sources for writing about that. The book covers two and a half millennia and so can’t get bogged down in too much detail!
The book had many interesting facts. For example, I learned that while Italy appears to be a long “boot”, its northern border stretches for 1,250 miles while its length is 750 miles – because of this long border the peninsula was hard to defend, resulting in numerous invasions over the millennia. I was surprised that one of the first incursions was in 390 B.C. by Gauls, “blue-eyed, fair-haired men from the land we now call France.” One usually thinks of Gaul being invaded by Rome.
In 343 BC, Rome began to conquer neighboring tribes and consolidated control over much of the central Italian peninsula. One secret of its success was that while earlier conquerors such as Athens in Greece had imposed tribute in the past, “Rome, with greater political tact, imposed no tribute. It allowed allies to remain free and continue exercising local autonomy; they had only to supply troops for the defense of the federation as a whole. In peace, there was a community of interests, in war, the sense of fraternity arises when men, shoulder to shoulder, fight to the death.”
By 265 B.C., Rome completed the conquest of Italy and grew to a walled city with just under 1 million inhabitants.
The book contains the expected narrative of the rise and fall of the Republic, the brutal wars with Carthage, the expansion of the Empire and sections on the better known leaders including Sulla, Marius, Caesar, Augustus, Tragan, Hadrian, Commodus, Constantine, etc.
But what I appreciated most was the author’s cultural asides. For example, he pointed out that the Romans tended to regard religion in legal terms. “Their word for it means ‘binding obligation,’ and one of the qualities they most esteemed - pietas - means no more than “justice toward the gods.” Their gods were abstract, utilitarian, and often personifications of moral qualities, such as Peace, Liberty, Victory, and Good Fortune.”
Later chapters covered the invasions of various tribes during the Fall of the Roman Empire, the “Dark Ages”, the rise of Florence, Venice, and the city-states, the Guelphs vs the Ghibellines, St. Francis, Dante, Thomas Aquinas, Unification, etc.
Lots of interesting material, and I definitely recommend this book!
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Top reviews from other countries
- KashubiantykeReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2021
A great summation of Italian history.
- TimReviewed in the United Kingdom on August 16, 2018
An easy read providing a good general background
