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Augustus
The Life of Rome's First Emperor
480 pages
A gripping, flesh-and-blood portrait of ambition that reads less like a dusty history and more like a high-stakes political thriller.
What it feels like
Reading this biography feels like stepping into the back rooms of ancient Rome, where the air is thick with whispered conspiracies and ruthless ambition. Everitt strips away the marble facade of history's greatest emperor to reveal a pragmatic, often ruthless, and surprisingly vulnerable human being. The narrative moves at a brisk, engaging clip, blending scholarly rigor with the propulsive energy of a political thriller. You are immersed in a sweeping, intrigue-laden atmosphere, watching a teenager navigate a deadly world of seasoned warlords to eventually shoulder the crushing, isolating burden of absolute power. It is a perfect match for readers who devour narrative history and want to feel the pulse of the past, experiencing the messy, flesh-and-blood reality behind the founding of an empire.
- Mood
- intrigue-laden
- sweeping
- politically charged
- Tone
- authoritative
- engaging
- pragmatic
- dramatic
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the mechanics of ambition · the burden of empire · political pragmatism · mythmaking and legacy
- The writing
- Accessible and narrative-driven, transforming dry historical records into a gripping, character-focused drama.
- The arc
- Transitions from the breathless, high-stakes survival of a young heir to the heavy, isolating reality of maintaining absolute power.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love narrative history and political thrillers, eager to see the human flaws behind marble statues.
Content notes
- political violence
- assassination
- warfare
- executions
About the book
He found Rome made of clay and left it made of marble. As Rome's first emperor, Augustus transformed the unruly Republic into the greatest empire the world had ever seen. His consolidation and expansion of Roman power two thousand years ago laid the foundations, for all of Western history to follow. Yet, despite Augustus's accomplishments, very few biographers have concentrated on the man himself, instead choosing to chronicle the age in which he lived. Here, Anthony Everitt, the bestselling author of Cicero, gives a spellbinding and intimate account of his illustrious subject. Augustus began his career as an inexperienced teenager plucked from his studies to take center stage in the drama of Roman politics, assisted by two school friends, Agrippa and Maecenas. Augustus's rise to power began with the assassination of his great-uncle and adoptive father, Julius Caesar, and culminated in the titanic duel with Mark Antony and Cleopatra.The world that made Augustus--and that he himself later remade--was driven by intrigue, sex, ceremony, violence, scandal, and naked ambition. Everitt has taken some of the household names of history--Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Antony, Cleopatra--whom few know the full truth about, and turned them into flesh-and-blood human beings.At a time when many consider America an empire, this stunning portrait of the greatest emperor who ever lived makes for enlightening and engrossing reading. Everitt brings to life the world of a giant, rendered faithfully and sympathetically in human scale. A study of power and political genius, Augustus is a vivid, compelling biography of one of the most important rulers in history.From the Hardcover edition.
Description from Open Library.
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