David Mattingly, An Imperial Possession

At Amazon, David Mattingly, An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire.

Robin Fleming, Britain After Rome

At Amazon, Robin Fleming, Britain After Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400 to 1070.

Richard Miles, Carthage Must Be Destroyed

At Amazon, Richard Miles, Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization.

Christopher Kelly, The End of Empire

At Amazon, Christopher Kelly, The End of Empire: Attila the Hun & the Fall of Rome.

Cullen Murphy, Are We Rome?

This is something I've obviously been thinking about, although clearly the U.S. is a vastly more powerful empire (if we're an "empire") than Rome ever was.

But still, it's what comes to mind sometimes.

At Amazon, Cullen Murphy, Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America.

Shop Deals

At Amazon, Today's Deals.

More, KIND Breakfast Bars, Peanut Butter, Gluten Free, 1.8 Ounce, 32 Count.

And, Mountain House Just In Case...Essential Bucket.

Still more, AmazonBasics Apple Certified Lightning to USB Cable - 6 Feet (1.8 Meters) - Black.

Plus, Blue Lizard Australian Sunscreen, Sensitive SPF 30+, 5-Ounce.

Also, Save on Craftsman Tools.

Here, Top Quality in Car Audio.

BONUS: Stephen Dando-Collins, Mark Antony's Heroes: How the Third Gallica Legion Saved an Apostle and Created an Emperor.

Adrian Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Adrian Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire.

Stephen Dando-Collins, Legions of Rome

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Stephen Dando-Collins, Legions of Rome: The Definitive History of Every Imperial Roman Legion.

Barry Strauss, The Spartacus War

*BUMPED.*

This one's apparently "the first popular history of the [Spartacus] revolt in English."

I'm enjoying Spartacus immensely, so this looks excellent.

At Amazon, Barry Strauss, The Spartacus War.

Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution.

Mary Beard, SPQR

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Mary Beard, SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome.

Steven Pressfield, Gates of Fire

I'm doing well with Colleen McCullough's The First Man in Rome. I'm almost 100 pages in and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. As I've mentioned at some point, with novels I know pretty quickly if I'm going to like the book. When the pages fly by, it's going to be a pleasure. When you're wading through, grinding it out and daydreaming of other things, it's work. And that's not going to work out. So, more about McCullough later. I've got all of her books in the "Masters of Rome" series (well, actually, the last two are being delivered shortly, The October Horse [2002] and Antony and Cleopatra [2007]). I do recommend them, for sure, so click heavily on the links if you're inclined.

That said, I've found a few other things of significant interest in my used bookstore puttering. Especially noteworthy, for a cheap paperback, is Steven Pressfield, Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae.

Apparently this one's frequently copied but rarely matched. And the cover blurbs are effusive. It's going to be one or two more books in the future for me, but it'll be a quick read. Go ahead and get yours at Amazon.

More later.

Barry Strauss, The Death of Caesar

At Amazon, Barry Strauss, The Death of Caesar: The Story of History’s Most Famous Assassination.

Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar

*BUMPED.*

At Amazon, Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colossus.

Tom Holland, Rubicon

*BUMPED.*

This one comes highly recommended.

At Amazon, Tom Holland, Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic.

Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy

The classic text.

I'm reviewing my copy to check out the impact of Ancient Rome on Western philosophy, since I'm immersing myself in this literature.

At Amazon, Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy.

Colleen McCullough, The Grass Crown

Following-up from Wednesday, "Colleen McCullough's 'Masters of Rome' Series."

I'm finishing-up Spartacus this afternoon. And I've already dipped into The First Man in Rome, which is the first book of McCollough's series.

Here's The Grass Crown.

Depending how much I buckle down and read, I'm normally going to finish a book like Spartacus in about three days. That's almost 100 pages a day. So, if I really clamp down on this, I could finish The First Man in Rome in about two weeks. But, as is my wont, I often have a couple of books going at the same time (to break up the monotony, I guess). I started Tom Holland's Rubicon yesterday, and it's great. Once the semester starts (on August 28th) I won't have as much time to dawdle with all these books. I read at night a bit during the semester, when there's nothing on TV I want to watch. I don't get through as many books. Summer's when I really get to range widely, so to speak. It's a lot of fun.

Thanks for your support!

Thornton Wilder, The Ides of March

I'm trying to keep my reading around the late Republic (for now), so this one as well's on my list.

At Amazon, Thornton Wilder, The Ides of March: A Novel.

ICYMI: Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome

Following-up, "Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire."

At Amazon, Bryan Ward-Perkins, The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization.

Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire

I'm not this far into my Roman reading, but apparently this new historical research is top-flight.

Readers may find this helpful.

At Amazon, Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians.