Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar - Softcover

Holland, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345806727 ISBN 13: 9780345806727

Publisher: Anchor Books, 2016

Synopsis

In this dazzling portrait of Rome's first imperial dynasty, Tom Holland traces the astonishing century-long story of the rise and fall of the Julio-Claudians--Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. Capturing both the brilliant allure of their rule and the blood-steeped shadows cast by their crimes, Dynasty travels from the great capital rebuilt in marble to the dank and barbarian forests of Germany. Populated by a spectacular cast: murderers and metrosexuals, adulterers and Druids, scheming grandmothers and reluctant gladiators, it vividly recreates the world of Rome after Julius Caesar. A tale of rule and ruination, Dynasty is the story of a family that transformed and stupefied the western world and that continues to cast a mesmerizing spell across the millennia.

About this title

Review:

"Startlingly visceral.... Holland has crafted a history of early Rome that has all the gripping detail and narrative momentum of a novel." --The New York Times

"Holland is a master of narrative history. On the strength of Dynasty, he deserves a laurel wreath." --The Washington Post

"Dynasty surely secures [Holland's] place among the foremost writers of popular history practicing today.... His ability to operate at small and large scale simultaneously . . . is one of his great talents." --The Wall Street Journal

"Fascinating.... [Dynasty] has Holland's usual novelistic ability to bring a narrative alive, together with his extraordinary command of ancient sources." --Matt Ridley, The New York Times Book Review

"[A] rollicking account of the Julio-Claudians.... A meditation on the enduring power and possibilities of storytelling." --Financial Times

"Excellent.... Engrossing.... [Holland] is a witty and skillful storyteller, capable of penning penetrating psychological portraits of the monsters who form his subject." --New Statesman

"Gripping." --The New York Review of Books

"A richly panoramic picture of Rome in the first century AD, dwelling on its manners and morals.... Holland writes about [his subjects] with great verve and insight." --The Literary Review

"Among the many virtues of Tom Holland's terrific history is that he does not shrink from seeing the Roman emperors for what they were.... He knits the history of ancient Rome into his narrative--its founding myths, the fall of the republic, the religious superstitions--with a skill so dextrous you don't notice the stitching. Dynasty is both a formidable effort to compile what we can know about the ancient world and a sensational story." --The Observer (England)

"A swaggering history of the dynastic house that Julius Caesar built." --Sunday Express

"Holland's masterly account of this first wicked century of the Roman empire is, at its heart, a political analysis.... It is down to his skill as a storyteller that there's no difficulty in imagining that it might all happen again tomorrow." -- The Sunday Times (London)

"Thrilling.... [A] fast-paced historical narrative." --Evening Standard

"Brilliant, terrifying and compelling." --Alex Preston, The Observer (England)

"A wonderful, surging narrative--a brilliant and meticulous synthesis of the ancient sources.... This is a story that should be read by anyone interested in history, politics or human nature--and it has never been better told." --The Mail on Sunday

"Impressive.... First-rate ancient history and a compulsively good read.... This is history in which fact and fiction overlap, rigorously researched and lightened with dashes of humour." --Daily Mail

"A vivid account." --Kirkus Reviews

"A lurid, ripping yarn, peopled by characters whose propensity for self-indulgence, cruelty and sheer tyrannical excess has not lost its ability to shock." --Sydney Morning Herald

Book Description:

A masterful history of Rome's first imperial dynasty by the award-winning author of Rubicon, Persian Fire and In the Shadow of the Sword.

About this edition

• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0345806727
• ISBN 13: 9780345806727
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512