The Vine: August 10, 2012
So, I am a book-loving gal who majored in English back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I married a guy whose idea of in-depth reading is the back of the cereal box. This has never really bothered me; I just have to go to an extra store around the holidays to get him a remote-controlled helicopter or robotic vacuum since everyone else on my shopping list gets books for Christmas.
But much to my surprise and delight, my husband has announced that he wants to start reading history books! He just finished listening to this very lengthy podcast about the history of Rome. He started listening to it when my daughter was a newborn because he discovered it put her right to sleep during her evening feeding — she’s nine months old now and it’s just coming to an end. As a side effect, he has gotten rabidly interested in Roman history and wants to continue his learnings. However, my taste runs more to memoirs, and I have no idea where to begin finding books that might be up his alley. I am hoping you and the readers can be some help.
What I’m looking for is books hopefully about very early Roman history (though, if you know of any great early history books about other civilizations, I would gladly check those out too). They would hopefully be a little lively and off the wall — what my husband enjoyed about this podcast was the really weird details that came up. In an ideal world they would also come in audiobook format. My husband claims he would totally read an actual book, but he barely even checks his email,so I’m trying not to get too crazy here.
Looking forward to your suggestions!
Sincerely,
I Tried To Convince Him That Andy Cohen’s Memoir Was A Riveting Historical Text, But He Didn’t Fall For It
Dear Rivet,
I have a couple of suggestions that might make good jumping-off points even if they’re not totally his thing, or don’t come in audiobook format. The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found had a lot of cool, random detail about Roman sidewalk construction, layouts of houses, et cetera; the writing is on the clonky academic side, and it’s not available as an audiobook, but if he sees a few pages of it on Google Books, maybe Amazon’s or Goodreads’s algorithms can recommend something similar.
I’ve also just waded into this puppy, which is part of a series about daily life throughout history. I don’t know for sure if there’s a Roman version, or if it’s any good; the medieval one isn’t the most exciting, prose-wise, but it’s designed to give tons of accurate details and terms to aid the historical-fiction writer in nailing details, so if it’s the micro stuff he likes (I learned what a toft is yesterday!), those might work.
Neither of these is going to satisfy the audio requirement (or even the topic, necessarily), but if you guys want to plug them into a book-constellation website and see what other possibilities come up, they might help. And we’ll see what the readers have to offer. Readers: books on early Roman/other-civ history, ideally with an audio format, heavy on cool details. Three (3) suggestions per comment, please!
Tags: Ask The Readers popcult
My husband has been listening to the audiobook of 1491 and highly recommends it. FWIW, he does plenty of work-related reading, but no fiction or anything else I would categorize as “fun.”
I only have one suggestion- How The Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe by Thomas Cahill. It’s been a while since I read it but as I recall it was fairly entertaining. I was in high school when I read it and I wasn’t bored by it at all, so it must’ve been a fun read.
It is available on audio, but there are some cool photos and illustrations so I’d recommend the hard copy anyway. The author’s also written a book about early Jewish history but as I haven’t read it I can’t vouch for it.
This doesn’t satisfy the Roman history part of it, but what about Bill Bryson’s Short History of Private Life and Short History of Nearly Everything? His audiobooks are fantastic, and they would seem to satisfy the little details requirements.
Tony Perrottet has some fun ancient world books. A quick Amazon search isn’t showing audiobooks, but they’re probably much lighter material than his podcast, which might make up for it. Also, maybe the website for the podcast would have a suggested reading list?
The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius is on Audible and this one: http://www.amazon.com/Lives-of-the-Twelve-Caesars/dp/B000AWGXAY/ref=sr_1_2_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344615805&sr=1-2&keywords=suetonius is narrated by Derek Jacobi himself. It’s contemporary and dishy as all get-out. A really fun read. The Jacobi connection to I, Claudius is a fun lead-in to that miniseries, also.
Heartily seconding Sars and Mary Beard’s Fires of Vesuvius. I really like her writing so you may want to check out her other stuff, including her book on Roman triumphs and her survey book with John Henderson, Classic Art: From Greece to Rome. Also, maybe audiobooks of Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series? Although the books themselves are massive bricks, I can’t imagine how long an audiobook would take.
I’d recommend The Swerve, by Stephen Greenblatt. It’s about a poem by Lucretius entitled “The Nature of Things” that had a tremendous influence on Renessaince Italy when it was rediscovered in a monastary. Quite fascinating and well written.
Pretty much anything Simon Schama writes is worth a look. I especially love his “A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World, 3500 B.C.-1603 A.D” (sorry, I am very bad at links, but Amazon has it and lots of his other books), and there is also Mark Kurlansky (“Salt” and “Cod” for starters) who writes very accessibly about history of one thing but shows how that one thing influences a whole bunch of other things.
And, of course, your local library is a great place to look!
Seconding the Bryson books, the first of which is actually titled “At Home: A Short History of Private Life”. I don’t know if either of them are on audio, but I think other books of his are, so they might be.
Also, you don’t mention this category, so it’s worth a shot — if he would like at some point to put the Roman History stuff into quick World History context, then I recommend (highly) Larry Gonick’s “The Cartoon History of the Universe” in 3 volumes, followed the “The Cartoon History of the Modern World” in 2 volumes.
Given that they are graphic novels, I don’t think they can possibly be available in audio book form. And their appeal for him would rest on whether he’s willing to read a cartoon book, even an incredibly erudite and footnoted one. Given how broad the scope is, nothing gets dealt with in depth all that much, although Gonick does salt in various fun tidbits where he can, and his writing style is breezy and funny.
As I say, it’s mostly a recommendation for “putting this whole thing into world context”, and possibly even as an overview for other parts of history he might like to explore. Specifically, volume 2, “From the Springtime of China to the Fall of Rome”.
How about “I, Claudius”? The details of Caligula’s sex life are probably weird enough to please any recent Roman-history convert. I read it as a teenager, purely to annoy my parents who wouldn’t let me watch the rather sexy BBC version, and found it gripping.
Not an audiobook, but I will recommend another podcast. It’s called ‘Hardcore History’ by Dan Carlin, and some are very long multi-part series about world history, both ancient and modern (up to WW2). Right now, Dan is doing a multi-part on the Mongols of the 1200s, but there others that go back even before Roman times. Many are available for free on iTunes in the Podcasts section. The earlier ones can be purchased for a trivial amount of money.
I’ve listened to all of them.
I third the recommendations for Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything” (about the history of science) and “At Home” (about the history of why we live like we do). They are full of tiny, delightful details.
I consumed both as audiobooks, which are read by the author. I’ve gifted “A Short History” to many friends over the years.
I enthusiastically second the Suetonius. It is the trashy, celebrity-gossip version of ancient Roman history and I would imagine that it’s particularly delicious in the plummy tones of Derek Jacobi.
If he wants to branch out a bit, there’s “The Satyricon” by Petronius. It’s a raunchy satire of Roman society during Nero’s reign written by one of his former political advisors.
I’m seconding Jeanne’s suggestion of “How the Irish Saved Civilization.” Cahill tends to be a very readable author, not particularly dry or tedious, and most of his stuff is available as an audiobook. The entire series – Hinges of History, I think – is fantastic.
Maybe not quite in line with you had in mind, but I read a book several years ago that took place in Rome and the bits that really stuck with me were the daily life stuff. The book is actually fiction (it’s about a woman who is a lawyer in CA and suddenly wakes up one day and finds herself in Rome in 170 A.D.). It’s called Household Gods by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove. Not sure if it’s an audiobook, and it’s definitely fiction, but if he wants details on what daily life might’ve been like, this book is just the thing.
http://www.amazon.com/Household-Gods-Judith-Tarr/dp/0812564669
He might like “Route 66 A.D. : On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists”. It’s half history, half travel memoir. The author follows some ancient Roman traderoutes, so it isn’t totally focused on the city of Rome, (as opposed to the Roman empire as a whole.)
Another vote for the Bryson books! My husband used to be like LW’s and, after 7 years of putting books in front of him to figure out what he likes, he’s now pissed that Amazon doesn’t have a way to combine our Kindle accounts so he can read the many Bryson books I’ve purchased under my account. :D. (I know, I know, kindle library, but we use the app on our Windows phones, so the rules are different. Boo!)
Following on Megan’s suggestion of fiction, if Rivet thinks historical fiction might go over, there’s Lindsey Davis’s series of mystery novels centred on Marcus Didius Falco. He’s the Roman version of a gumshoe – a sticky sandal? Lots of detail about about daily life in Rome. I haven’t read them myself, but they’ve been recommended to me, and they appear to be available in audio format.
I loved Davis’s novel called The Course of Honor, about the relationship between the Emperor Vespasian and a freed slave. Again, lots of cool stuff about what life was like in the Roman Empire. But maybe fiction with a romantic tinge is a bit far afield from where Rivet wanted to end up.
Seconding I, Claudius and Claudius the God. Historical fiction, but well researched and fascinating. Then get him the DVDs, because awesomeness.
I know you said books, but he might enjoy HBO’s Rome series as well.
There’s less written on the early Republic than on the later Republic and Empire because sources are scarce, but he might try a translation of Livy. (Fair warning, Livy is not as fun as Suetonius. But he’s what we’ve got.) Isaac Asimov’s The Roman Republic is a fun, though possibly somewhat dated, pop history, probably available at the library or secondhand. For something more comprehensive, this has a good reputation.
For historical fiction, I haven’t found much that could beat Colleen McCullough’s “Masters of Rome” series. They go into a lot of detail about the daily life in that era and are excellent as far as sticking to historical accuracy.
Barry Strauss’s The Battle of Salamis and The Trojan War are Greek, not Roman, but nerds about one tend to also be nerds about the other and both books are really terrific — thorough and detailed (he is a military historian at Cornell) but definitely readable enough to be totally gripping, I was staying up late with them. They give good narratives of the battles/wars at hand but also provide a lot of context of the area and time. Highly recommended (to LW’s husband and to anyone).
The Teaching Company ( now called the Great Courses) has both video classes and audio books that are pretty much as you described.
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/courses.aspx?s=846&ps=918
is the page that has Classical history.
My husband and i have bought several of their courses; i tend to buy science as videos or DVDs and he tends to buy history, in audiobook form. we have both been really happy with how interesting their books/courses are.
Seconding Megan’s comment: anything Harry Turtledove writes is fascinating. He is a historian so you can trust his facts, and he is an entertaining writer.
The kids series Horrible histories might work, shorter for someone not used to books and full of great fun info.
If you think he might like to branch out to the American Revolution, I have nothing but high praise for Joanne Freeman’s “The American Revolution” iTunes University podcast. I mean this in a flattering way, but if you want your crazy and loopy aunt describing the American Revolution over beers, that’s how this plays. She’s smart and accessible, and if he doesn’t like it, it’s free so you haven’t lost anything but the time.
I haven’t yet read this, but I made a note of it after a member of a book forum gave a very positive review (and have to thank Rivet for her query, because I’d forgotten about it): <a href="www.amazon.com/Day-Life-Ancient-Rome-Curiosities/dp/1933372710" title="A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome: Daily Life, Mysteries, and Curiosities“>.
Oops, sorry about the mis-formatted link. Clickable link (I hope) for A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome: http://www.amazon.com/Day-Life-Ancient-Rome-Curiosities/dp/1933372710
One of my favorite texts about Roman history, to this day, is ostensibly a children’s book: David Macaulay’s City. It’s a gorgeously-illustrated “history” of the evolution of a fictional-but-based-in-reality Roman city, and covers a lot of the construction techniques, urban planning strategies, cultural life, et cetera of the mid-Republic. Mostly pictures, not a lot of words, thoroughly enjoyable (even for the adults in the audience).
Also, Steven Saylor writes some seriously melodramatic (but entertaining) novels set in classical antiquity. Rubicon is probably a good one to start with, since it has all that Caesar-y military stuff going on.
Harry Turtledove, while not regular history, has tons of fascinating books — almost all are alternate history, a few are historical fiction, all are GREAT.
I also agree that Suetonius is delightful.
Another not-exactly-Roman one here. Tim Severin recreates famous journeys (the link is to his retracing of the route of the first crusade, travelling across Europe on horseback – I link to it because it’s the only one I’ve read, though I think I’m about to go shopping) in the most authentic possible way. He fills in quite a lot of the history, along with some truly random factlets along the way.
http://www.amazon.com/Crusader-Horse-Jerusalem-Tim-Severin/dp/1842122789/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1344778313&sr=8-14&keywords=tim+severin
I’m not a huge fan of Roman history, but I am a fan of disaster history, and went through a phase where I read everything I could find about the Black Death. There’s a great book called “Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire and the Birth of Europe” that covers early Roman history (the mid-500s) and has lots of interesting facts and information.
http://www.amazon.com/Justinians-Flea-Plague-Empire-Europe/dp/0670038555
Some of the Amazon reviews are saying this is a hard one for non-historians, though. I didn’t find that to be the case, but just a heads up.
If your husband likes weird history, you might look into Sarah Vowell.
J.C. McKeown’s “A Cabinet of Roman Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the World’s Greatest Empire” (http://tinyurl.com/cj8f7vd), is not so much a “history book” as it is a list of odd facts and quotes organized by topic, but it sounds like it’s right up your husband’s alley in terms of “weird little details.” It’s not the kind of book that would translate well into audio, but it might be perfect for him to keep at the bedside table, for example, as it’s very easy to dip in and out of.
Seconding the Colleen McCullough series – they start from the time of Gaius Marius, through Lucius Sulla, Julius Caesar, and Augustus. AWESOME at making people into memorable characters – you’ll never forget exactly why you should care about (and sincerely kind of detest) Cicero, or how weird Sulla was, or how devious Augustus could be.
I just finished listening the The History of Rome podcast myself (so sad it’s over!), and for my money, the McCullough series is one of the best novelizations out there for Republican Rome. The HBO series “Rome” basically stole a lot of the characterizations from them, with good reason. For Imperial Rome, try the “I, Claudius” series (even if you don’t buy the Livia-killed-everyone conspiracy theory, they’re fun). And if you want some fictionalized-but-based-on-history Byzantine action, try Guy Gavriel Kay’s “Sailing to Sarantium” and “Lord of Emperors.” Names and theology slightly changed, but that’s it.
I’d really like to know what the original podcast was! Rivet, if you’re around, I’d love it if you’d share.
Thirding the I, Claudius and Claudius the God recommendation.
He also might want to try A Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich. Covers the last bit of the Roman Empire, and on up until . . . well I never actually finished it. But it was good, I swear.
I’m pretty late to the toga party, but “Egypt, Greece, and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean by Charles Freeman.” It’s a pretty smooth read, with lots of interesting stuff.
The How Stuff Works people also do a podcast called Stuff You Missed in History Class which is pretty interesting random tidbits from throughout history.
I love Suetonius, and also recommend Tacitus. He’s not as gossipy as Suetonius, but great for history – try The Histories, The Annals, and Agricola and Germania. For modern treatment of one episode of Roman history, I suggest Tom Holland’s Rubicon.
I don’t know how many of these are available in audio, sorry. If there’s interest in ebooks, the Tacitus are definitely long since public domain, and should be easily available on Gutenberg.
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond is not ancient history per se – it seeks to explain why European nations were able to build cities and “conquer” the world as opposed to Africans or the Chinese. It is really interesting and highly accessible. There is also a PBS show that’s available on Netflix streaming if you want to get a taste of the book.
Joining in late to mention the amazing Barbara Tuchman and especially her book “The March of Folly” which follows leaders and other important people from Troy to Vietnam as they make the sort of decisions that, in hindsight, epitomise the word “Folly”. It is *full* of the kind of detail you have mentioned and in nice shortish chapters as well. ALL of her books are wonderful, but I would suggest this one first!
Ancient Roman murder mysteries? Just for the cross genre possibilities? That would be the Lindsey Davis “Falco” series “Silver Pigs” etc… http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/ Good Luck!
Mike Duncan, who created the History of Rome Podcast, has a list of recommended audio books at: http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/the_history_of_rome/audiblepodcastcomrome-book-recommendations.html.
Would the podcast that he was listening to be Mike Duncan’s? If so, there’s a new podcast that picks up where Mike left of: The History of Byzantium.
It’s still early days for the podcast, but if he’s interested it may be worth a listen, just to keep the experience going.
@Sarahnova: I would put money on it being Death Throes of the Republic I by Dan Carlin. All up it’s 13 hours.