I had great expectations for this book as the role of women in ancient Rome is sadly underrepresented or understood.  Unfortunately, this book did not quite come up to snuff; it was aimed more at the academic in that if you do not have a basic command of Latin, or a good Latin to English dictionary handy, or, if you do not have a basic understanding of Roman history and society, the book will fall short of your expectations.  In fact, it seems to me that the author was trying to burnish his academic credentials by writing this book.

Marcus Tullius Cicero was well known during his life (and for centuries afterwards until the decline of a classical education), for his work as an advocate and speaker during dangerous times in Rome as it moved from a weak Republic, through Dictatorship and into the beginnings of the Empire.  Why do we know so much about Cicero?  Mostly because so much of his legal and philosophical writings survived through the ages, much of it written by himself, naturally putting himself in the best of lights.  He loved to write about himself so much that he managed to write two biographies of himself (sounds like a certain President we know) concentrating on the one major accomplishment, his actions in putting down the Cataline conspiracies.

Vicious Indian Fighter, Slave trader and owner, duelist, adulterer, devoted husband (to the woman he stole from another), General, Andrew Jackson had all of the traits to make him one of the most disliked and by many, respected Presidents of our country.  He was, a man of his time and location; born in what was the frontier, his drive and energy, plus his sense of honor drove him to fight a duel on the slightest pretext, but often over the defense of a woman’s honor. Despised by the East Coast elite who had run the nation since it’s founding, he represented a challenge too that elite and also represented the fact that the United States was going to grow outside of the ideals of the old elite.

Perhaps no Civil War General is surrounded by more controversy than Nathan Bedford Forrest and yet his life and campaigns are to a large extent ignored or lightly skipped over as they are lost in the large battles of that conflict. This book, written by a man of the South, is pro-Forrest and yet, it is difficult to refute most of the history as told when reviewed against other contemporary and non-contemporary accounts. 

About every ten years or so I go on a Civil War binge and this binge has started with this excellent book by two fine military historians.  Murray is professor emeritus of history at Ohio State University and his many books closely examine the changes in military thinking and tactics as well as the culture of both the military and their society in which they exist.  Hsieh is associate professor of history at the United State Naval Academy.  Together they have created a fine work that not only gives the details on the various campaigns, but the strengths and weaknesses of commanders down to the regimental level as well as how both the North and the South responded to the size, scope and technology of the Civil War battlefield.

General Longstreet served as Robert E. Lee’s solid right hand, commanding the First Corps. of the Confederate Army during most of the Civil war.  A strong believer in states rights (but not necessarily slavery) before the war, afterwards he was a strong Republican, believing that having been defeated during the war, the Southern states needed to work to be fully accepted back into the Union.  His post war political beliefs earned him the scorn of many Southerners, especially the old ruling class which hoped (and succeed) to place themselves back in power.

Having visited Istanbul several times, I was looking forward to this book which had received positive reviews from several national sources.  I must admit however, that my expectations were not met.  It might be that the author attempts to cover too much of history in this sever hundred plus page tome.  Starting at 800,000 BC-no, I am not kidding- Ms. Hughes provides us with information on the earliest settlements, how drastic weather created the area, etc.  While that is of interest to a certain group, the three main areas of concentration are the time from Severus and Constantine, the Byzantine and of course, the time of the Ottomans.

If you like history, you probably feel comfortable in a discussion about most Western European states including their history.  But how much do you really know about the real foundations upon which the modern states were built?  Norman Davies has put together a book which is exhaustive in detail about those communities, smaller states and some greater states which are bypassed in most history courses.  What role did the Kingdom of the Rock play in the formation of Scotland?  Did you know that Prussia was once a fiefdom of Poland (a fact which most German history tends to miss)?  How about the long history of Burgundia which covered over thirteen hundred years and yet is seldom taught? Of course, you do not want to miss the history of Litva which was a Grand Duchy with Kings.

I have always found it interesting that some of the very best histories are written not by professors, but rather by individuals who have not spent their entire lives studying a specific field or discipline.  Journalists can very often write fine histories, perhaps because they are used to looking at everyday people earlier in their careers.  Rick Atkinson, a former staff writer and editor at The Washington Post has won Pulitzer Prizes for history and journalism and his trilogy on the U.S. war effort in World War II is an example of research and writing at it’s finest.  In this book, the first of a trilogy on the American Revolution, Mr. Atkinson has again created a work that is unusually fine in the quality of the research, evenhandedness and writing.  In fact, he has created a history that reads more like an adventure novel, filled with tension, humanity, pain and relief. I believe that even a well-read historian of the period will find much that is new and well balanced in this book.

One of the joys of visiting New Orleans is the ability to wander in wonderful book stores; not the chain stores that are in malls, but in quirky little hide shops where you have to walk sideways through stacks and columns of books that can tower above you.  There you find treasures that have been passed down from reader to reader, sometimes with their names on the inside cover, sometimes with a birthday wish or a wish for recovery from some momentary disaster.  It was in one such book shop where I ran across a 1935 edition of this book which I had seen mentioned in both fiction and non-fiction historical volumes.  The illustrations are pen and ink and the editor takes care to place each section in proper context so that you feel you are getting the essence of the writer’s thoughts and feelings.