Related Vacation Book Subjects: Kansas
More Pages: Republic Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90
Books to read if you're planning a vacation in "Republic", sorted by average review score:
Roman Blood
Published in Hardcover by St. Martin's Press (November, 1991)
Author: Steven W. Saylor
Average review score:

Better history than mystery
Steven Saylor's novel is aptly named -- a good deal of Roman blood is indeed spilled when Gordianus the Finder agrees to help a young lawyer named Marcus Tullius Cicero with his first case. Cicero has been hired to defend one Sextus Roscius, accused of killing his father, also named Sextus Roscius. The crime of patricide was punishable by death in ancient Rome, and neither Cicero nor Gordianus wants to see an innocent man executed.

Saylor does a good job of bringing Rome to life; he includes many details, including descriptions of the narrow, winding streets, the oppressive heat of summer, and the intricacies of the Roman legal system, that create a sense of place and painlessly educate the reader. There are only a few places where the description intrudes into the story. Since the story is bound up with the political intrigue surrounding the rule of the dictator Sulla (80 BC), a knowledge of Roman history will help the reader keepthe characters and their motivations straight. Saylor does give an explanation of Sulla's rise to power and the atrocities he and his followers committed, but it comes late in the book and drags on for several pages, so this is not as useful as it could be. Readers not familiar with (or uninterested in) Roman history may have trouble getting into the book, but overall the setting is well-done and convincing.

The mystery aspect of the novel was not as interesting as the historical aspect; the story is slow in places, and it was hard to care about the characters, especially since many of them lack redeeming qualities. Also, Saylor has an unfortunate tendencyto overemphasize key plot points, as if he doesn't want the reader to miss the fact that a certain discovery is a clue. Part of the mystery reader's responsibility is to find the clues on her own; it is the mystery author's job to confuse the reader about what is a clue and what is a red herring. Saylor doesn't seem to have mastered that skill. The end of the novel, which includes the requisite court scene with Cicero making his argument on behalf of the accused, seems to take forever to lumber to a conclusion. Read the book for its setting, but don't expect too much in the mystery department.

a terrific book, part of a terrific series

Steven Saylor's Roma Sub Rosa series is wonderful for the exploration of character, for the mysteries (of course), and for bringing Ancient Rome to life. The descriptions of Rome made me feel like I was walking through a city teeming with life, people, sights, sounds, smells.

The novels seem to become more complex as the series goes on. Roman Blood, the first novel in the series, is the most straight-forward murder mystery. Arms of Nemesis puts Gordianus under pressure with a time limit, and looks at the way slaves fit into Roman society. Catalina's Riddle takes place on a farm, in the midst of a possible revolution. The Venus Throw involves, scandal, politics and an examination of morals. I haven't read the other books yet, but I have ordered them. I heartily recommend this series.

A thrilling mystery draped with vivid historic detail.
I first began reading Steven Saylor's short stories in Ellery Queen and was immediately taken with his writing. Saylor brings history to life in an immediate and vivid manner. He does it so well, the reader doesn't notice it after awhile. "Roman Blood" is first and foremost a mystery, and the "detective" is Gordinius the Finder, a Roman citizen who is often hired to find truth. In this story a man is accused of murdering his father, and faces a horrible punishment if Gordinius and Cicero cannot find him innocent. Saylor exposes the corruption of the Roman political system while asking pointed questions about what justice is. This novel is so far my favorite of Saylor's novels because although he delves into the politics of the Roman Forum, the book is foremost a mystery novel. Gordinius is attempting to solve the murder of a Roman citizen, and Saylor maintains the suspensefulness throughout the novel. The book's ending leaves the readers surprised and thoughtful. Saylor also, by the end of the book, has ensured his future royalties because he's made you care about the characters and leaves you wanting to read more about their lives and their challenges.

Caesar's Women
Published in Hardcover by William Morrow (January, 1996)
Author: Colleen McCullough
Average review score:

Caesar's Rome
Colleen McCullough's fourth novel in her "Masters of Rome" series certainly lives up to the precedent set by the first three, if only because it is wondeful for the reader to emerge with familiar characters - Pompey, Crassus, Cicero, Clodius and others. And, of course, Caesar himself. This is the one problem with the book - Caesar steals the limelight constantly. Great historical events from around this time such as Clodius' street gangs and the Cailine conspiracy are handed to Caesar so that he shifts into a starring role in both. All of the Roman domestic life mentioned in the book centres around Caesar and his family, which are, of course, beautiful and virtuous like Caesar himself. This does become somewhat tedious and, dare I say, irritating. However, McCullough's writing style is fantastic, and she certainly 'knows her stuff', so to speak. She does not appear to make any major mistakes, but at times her interpretation on characters and their motives confuse me to say the least. I cannot see Bibulus' intense hatred of Caesar rising from a jealousy due to Caesar's height! I also didn't like McCullough's version of Marcus Antonious' (Antony's) character. Through history, the whole Antony character is great - intelligent, flamboyant, handsome and in general a lot of fun! In this novel however, he is turned into an ugly sidekick of Curio and Clodius! Puzzling to say the least. The book, however is superbly written and detailed. I enjoyed reading it, especially the first time, it is when one turns back to it that one sees it's flaws.

Caesar's Women
Fourth novel in the author's ancient Rome series. Here (6858 b.c.), in the dwindling wakes of Marius and Sulla (Fortune's Favorites, 1993), is the Colossus, looming in ascent on his way to striding the world--Julius Caesar. Women appear in his orbit now and then, certainly, but the central action is mostly masculine. Nearing 40, Caesar, the handsome, brilliant patrician whose smile rarely reaches his eyes--a former priest, soldier, and diplomat who spent over 20 years in the senate--is back in the Forum, ready to weigh the political heft of potential foes and allies (``clout'' is a word often used). Guardians of the status quo are the viri boni (good men), among them a crafty ``flea'' and a surly Stoic and, on a shaky perimeter, Cicero, the ``golden throated'' orator whose manipulations to quell a conspiracy lead five to death without trial and draw a checkmate from Caesar. Caesar is elected head of the state-administered religion and is affectionate paterfamilias of a bevy of dutiful, decorous Vestal Virgins. And Pompey the Great, the military hero, wiser but still a shade thick and chafing over his lackluster genealogy, becomes not only one of Caesar's triumvirate but his son-in-law, rescuing Caesar's beloved daughter, Julia, from marriage to acne-ed Brutus, the son of Caesar's terrifying mistress Servilia, a woman as hard as the nails she uses to rake flesh. Caesar is winning on most senatorial fronts, and at the close his women (including admirable Aurelia, his mother, and his gentle third wife, Calpurnia) chat it up while word comes from Further Gaul--and Caesar is ``off like the wind.'' Meanwhile, the politicos here, their basic fiber teased from contemporary sources, are not unfamiliar (Caesar hopes that some day the bunch ``will think more of their homeland than . . . getting back at their enemies''). A muscular, convincing re-creation of Rome's political arenaand some legendary combatants. Once again with illustrations, maps, and McCullough's chatty glossary, a pleasure to consult.

I loved every page...
of this book. But I love reading about Julius Caesar from the point of view of Colleen McCollough always. In my opinion, I thought this was the best book of the series to date. My favorite women are Aurelia and Servilia. If I had lived back then, I would have probably been a Caesar groupie as well, based on Miss McCollough's portrayal of him. This book gives you insight into the women in Caesar's life, although that's not the whole book. There is still plenty of intrigue and politics and delightful portrayals of various characters, Cato, Cicero, Cassius, Clodius to name a few. If you want to learn about Caesar's rome, then this series is for you. Read on!

In Siberia
Published in Paperback by Perennial Press (26 December, 2000)
Author: Colin Thubron
Average review score:

Disappointing
Colin Thubron's book could hardly fail to be interesting given its subject matter. Thubron travelled the Trans-Siberian railway and made other detours through Russia's "Wild Wild East." What he found mostly was a people who are perservering despite living in an immense scarcely populated land that seems cursed by history and memories of the gulags. Some of Thubron's images are riveting and tragic. But unfortunately, his prose leaves a lot to be desired. He often writes in an off-putting second person, and he sometimes lingers on subjects that are just not that interesting. He also provides little context for his journey. He makes little mention of what compelled him to go to Siberia at this particular time, nor does he give any buildup for his travels or reflect on what it means to him. Worse yet, at the end of the book you get no sense of a journey completed. Instead, Thubron simply stopped writing.

Overall, this book was a great disappointment. I would recommend searching out Benson Bobrick's superior history of Siberia, "East of the Sun" instead.

a stunning and compelling but yet dark journey
In Siberia was my first exposure to Colin Thurbon and I must say that I found the book quite compelling --it was a wonderful and involving "long flight read" (a very important criterion for me in my life). I haev read quite a bit of and about the Gulag --and the camps --primarily Solzeneichtin (not sure of the spelling) and have been greatly fascinated by the incredible destruction and persecution imposed on the Russian people by Stalin and his cruel despotic regime but this book brought the cold and hopelessness of this vast region a lot closer to me. I look forward to reading other books by Thurbon and have also ordered Valentin Rasputin's book about Siberia as an attempt to grasp more of this subject. I do, however, agree with some of the other customer revierwers that Thurbon could have given more of himself by letting us know more about how he went about planning this trip, who helped him along the way, etc. Now maybe that would ahve taken away from the narrative flow --or maybe that's another book in itself but I felt he was a bit too matter of fact on how he got from one place to another, But saying all that, I enjoyed the book very much and look forward to reading his other travel essays that are still in print.

A Dark Journey through Russia's Wild East
An ex-political prisoner, an elderly shaman, a vodka-sodden drunk, a KGB agent turned Baptist preacher, a Rasputin lookalike, a lonely babushka - they are all part of the landscape of Siberia brought to life in Colin Thubron's latest masterpiece of travel writing. Siberia's not an easy assignment: covering one- third of the northern hemisphere, it has a haunted past and a harsh present, inevitable, Thubron implies, given Siberia's history as "a rural waste into which were cast the bacilli infecting the state body: the criminal, the sectarian, the politically dissident."

Speaking accented Russian in areas where Westerners were forbidden until only a few years ago, Thubron sometimes passes for a down-at-the-heels Estonian as he crosses Siberia, making forays north to desolate Arctic towns founded as Stalinist labor camps.

The people he meets stick in the memory, captured with the eye and ear of a novelist. (No surprise there: when not traveling, Thubron writes edgy, dark fiction.) In Rasputin's hometown of Pokrovskoe, Thubron meets Viktor, "a ghastly distillation" of the dark magician, a disturbing man shunned by other villagers. In the Arctic town of Vorkuta, where hundreds of thousands perished in labor camps during Stalin's reign, he finds an old woman watching dubbed Mexican soap operas. She is a faithful Communist, arrested in 1938 on a whispered denunciation and sent to the coal mines for a dozen years. Despite herself, and to Thubron's dismay, she still can't condemn the system that wasted her life. And then there are the babushkas in Omsk, celebrating the blessing of a pool of water near a new Orthodox monastery by plunging in with joyous abandon once the archbishop has moved on.

While new-found freedom and hope pop up in odd places, often linked with dormant religions slowly budding to life, darkness prevails in Thubron's account. Looking for traces of the Entsy people, once nomads in northern Siberia, he strands himself with them in the remote village of Potalovo. What he finds is alcoholism, poverty, and despair. Other native peoples, stripped of their cultures under the Soviets and left with the hollow shell of Communism, are equally adrift. And everywhere are reminders of the Gulag, signposts of man's extraordinary capacity for evil.

Though the darkness may be palpable, in the hands of a writer as skilled as Thubron, it's not depressing. He's the best travel writer working in English: a traveler, not a tourist, taking risks, uninterested in his own hardships. In Siberia is his best book yet.

In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu's Congo
Published in Hardcover by HarperCollins (24 April, 2001)
Author: Michela Wrong
Average review score:

Interesting subject matter -- not well written or organized
Using Black History Month as our theme for Book Club, we settled on this book. Each member was excited to learn more about Mobutu and his reign in Zaire/Congo. Unfortunaely, our collective lack of historical knowledge and recall for Mobutu's reign in the Congo certainly hindered our ability to read this book. While many anecdotes were surprising, shocking, and even entertaining in their absurdity, our Book Club concluded that the author failed in her mission to deliver an effective expose. As a journalist, I would have expected her thoughts to be more organized. Instead, Wrong jumps back and forth through time like a novelist or screenwriter attempting to heighten suspense. Wrong assumes the reader has a fairly strong working knowledge of the facts. Anyone who does not may find the book hard to follow.

My other criticism falls in line with other reviewers -- namely, that Wrong becomes a tad too sentimental about a world leader who commits unspeakable crimes for decades. Perhaps in her zeal to write a "different" book, she tried too hard to capture the human side of Mobutu. The human side is told by relatives and aides to Mobutu, all of whom have their own agendas. Wrong admits to being starstruck at one point -- boy, is she not kidding!

I still recommend reading this book, as the subject matter is fascinating. Still, you should pick up another book or two about Mobutu while you're at it -- this one is a couple of bananas short of a full bunch.

Wrong Is Right On
This book is a great follow up to Adam Hochschild's recent account of King Leopold's vicious exploitation of the Congo at the turn of the 20th century, King Leopold's Ghost. Wrong briefly recounts those events and more recent history leading up to the emergence of Mobutu as leader of the Congo which he renamed Zaire. She calls the government he set up a kleptocracy and it is an accurate term for the government of this unfortunate nation. Colonialism set the people of the Congo up to expect corruption and greed from their leaders and the resulting passivity of the people made it ripe for exploitation by its indigenous dictator--an extremely charismatic and corrupt man who played the Western Powers such as the U.S. and France in the game of Cold War power politics. Mobutu stole billions from his potentially rich nation and finagled billions more out of the U.S. and international financial agencies who knew he was corrupt but also a person that they could count on as an ally in an area with many enemies of the West. In order to maintain his hold, Mobutu also had to liberally dole out his ill-gotten gains to those around him. He also employed a bloated bureacracy of 600,000 employees doing the work that could have been done by 50,000. In his later years, his control weakened and the others near the top began further looting beyond Mobutu's awareness or control. For example, In the early 1990s, his generals sold off the entire air force. When Mobutu noticed the planes missing he was told that they had merely been sent to France for servicing and repairs. When he finally figured out what happened a year later, there was nothing he could do about it. Top military people also siphoned off money that was supposed to pay lower ranking military and also inflated the number of members in the army to siphon off more money. Most of the best and brightest who tried to change things for the better were eventually bought off.
Because Zaire was a chief supplier of uranium to the West they were also a "beneficiary" of Western nuclear technology. They have a 40 year old nuclear power plant that is obsolete and they are unable to replace malfunctioning parts. It is now used only to conduct various tests. The thought of a poorly maintained nuclear plant in this corrupt, impoverished and highly unstable land is truly scary.
Wrong also describes the events leading up to the downfall of Mobutu, the invasion of Rwandan and other forces, and the rise of Kabila who merely extended Mobutuism without Mobutu. In this account Kabila is still in charge. He has since been assassinated and his son has taken over. I hope a new paperback edition of this book will be out soon with an update. This is an excellent book, highly recommended for anyone who wants to read about the corrupt politics of central Africa and of the U.S., France, and various international agencies.

The Reverberating Effects of Colonialism
Michela Wrong's In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz is the perfect companion piece for the amazing and horrifying King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild (itself a historical look at the setting of Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness). Wrong takes the story into the present by covering the recent years in the Congo after the Belgians abruptly leave their colony, after providing a brief, succint look at its colonial background, to show the rise and fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, taking down the rich natural resources and the economy of his country with him through his time in government. The author is very effective at showing the Congo as a piece on the Cold War checkerboard using this position to gain support from the United States and money from the IMF and the World Bank allowing a corrupt system to remain in place and the corruption to grow to enormous scale. The complete absurdity of this situation is made quite clear in the journalistic approach the author takes to this book. The end of the Cold War ended this system and helped bring down Mobutu, too late to help his country. The author is quite good at placing the blame and the Western nations come in for their fair share as colonialism left the Congo only to be replaced by a Western backed form of economic imperialism. A horrifying and often sadly humourous read that opens one's eyes to the situation in Africa.

Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: A Journey Through Yugoslavia (Twentieth-Century Classics)
Published in Paperback by Penguin USA (Paper) (April, 1995)
Author: Rebecca West
Average review score:

Queer classic, with splendid prose, dodgy history
A somewhat queer book, but widely regarded as a classic. West is a splendid prose stylist, but not entirely trustworthy as a historian. She flits continually back and forth across the line between fact and fiction, and draws more symbolic meaning and universal truth from any given scene than any mere mortal rightfully ever should. West can be criticized for being almost obsequiously pro-Serbian, narrowly anti-Croat and even bigoted in her aversion to Germans, but her attitudes are easier to understand if one considers the time during which she did her research and writing. The book became controversial in some intellectual circles during the 1990s, as some believe Western policymakers were under the influence of Black Lamb and Grey Falcon when they were late and weak about intervening in the wars of Yugoslav succession. That strikes me as a silly notion. In that West has written 1,150 pages and continually diverges from the main thread of her narrative, I frankly doubt that more than a handful of policymakers-in all countries of the globe combined-ever have read her book from cover to cover. She herself confesses (p. 773) that "hardly anybody will read" her book "by reason of its length." Like War and Peace, Moby Dick and the Holy Bible, this is a literary classic that one should read because it is good for you.

I want to go
Get this book.

If there is one book you should read, that is pivotal in early 20th Century History, I'd strongly recommend that you read this book. By following Rebecca West's footsteps through Croatia, Dalmatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, she engages you with her trivial and quaint observations of people and places, set against her awesome knowledge of art and history, which is fascinating and worth re-reading time and time again.

And then you realize that this journey took place just before the start of the second world war. What a place to be, what a time to live, what a book to write. It is a long book, no doubt about that. In some respects, it is too short to fully tell the whole story and she helps with a full bibliography and index.

So, get this book and re-live her experiences.

Pure pleasure
One has to stand in awe before this enormous (ll40 pages) masterpiece of literary travel writing, even with its prejudice and poetry and occasional unkindness. Ms West and her husband and Constantine (he of the stubby fingers and wicked keyboard technique who tells unbelievable stories and opines on every imaginable topic) travel through Yugoslavia at the time Hitler is gaining power in Germany and the Habsburg Empire is just a dirty memory. Constantine is a Serb utterly devoted to the continued existence of the Yugoslav state but he's married to a dreadful hausfrau who despises anything that is not German and especially Slavs. She thus makes her own life miserable and does a number on the lives of everyone else. The book offers rich descriptions of all the states that make up (or made up)Yugoslavia, including religious and social customs, the mental and emotional tendencies of the people (sometimes depending on which outside influences -- Turkish, Austrian -- have impacted them most decisively). Montenegran men come in for high praise because because of their physical beauty and the presumed ease with which they could inseminate any woman. The book is a masterwork of richly textured Enlgish prose done in long, elegant, sometimes convoluted sentence that are a delight to read and may remind some readers of Proust. St. Paul and St. Augustine come in for the mistreatment they so richly deserve (the author traces several questionable religious practices she encounters to ideas found in their writings). This is a work for reasonably well educated adults, so anyone approaching it in search of accurate factual history is making a mistake. But nor will it mislead anyone on matters of historical fact.

Star Wars: Tales from the New Republic
Published in Mass Market Paperback by Bantam Books (03 August, 1999)
Authors: Peter Schweighofer and Craig Carey
Average review score:

Star Wars
This is a collection of short stories. While the main characters from the movies are mentioned only briefly, if at all it is still an interesting read.

A Variety of Perspectives on the SW Universe
Tales of the New Republic is to my mind the very best of the "Tales" compilations. The stories in this book all fall in the "New Republic" era. The characters include a favorite from the movies (Boba Fett), many of the most fascinating characters from previous novels, (Talon Karrde, Mara Jade, Garm Bel Iblis), and some very interesting new additions.

_Tales_ will immediately interest readers familiar with Zahn's work and the X wing books; the contributions by Tim Zahn and Mike Stackpole are up to their usual standard. But the stories here are also accessible to readers new to Star Wars books, and some of the best work here is by writers new to the Star Wars universe.

I especially enjoy this short story format, which lets me read about a wide variety of characters and situations. I want more Tales!

Another excellent anthology
This was truly a great collection of Star Wars short fiction. Each story is totally different, and yet forms a whole, of life in the Star Wars Galaxy.

Interlude at Darkknell: By Tim Zahn and Mike Stackpole, this one delivers. It is the big draw to the whole book, and lives up to that. We get to learn more about Hal Horn and Gen. Bel Iblis, against the background of some major galactic events. Good characters and some great tying together of loose threads. (similer to the Zahn/Stackpole in Tales from the Empire)

Jade Soliaire: Zahn really has some fun with this one, showing the infamous Mara Jade in action. While there are some tie ins with other stories in the universe (Hand of Thrawn especially), it stands alone by and large. Well written, and a fast read.

Gathering Shadows: Kathy Burdette does a great job with this one, showing the very real effects of tourture and imprisonment, with a healthy dose of doubt and disillousionment thrown in. Kind of heavey reading, but very emotional and well done.

Hutt and Seek/ Simple Tricks: Chris Cassidy and Tish Pahl, two non-fiction writer SW nuts, pull it off. These two stories feature Fenig Nabon and her partner in crime Ghitsa Dogder, as they swindel denizens of the Galaxy. These two stories are pure fun, but offer an interesting look into the galaxy. Simple tricks has some great scenes with Kyp revealing the depth of his anguish for destroying Carida. Well done ladies.

The Longest Fall/Uhl Eharl Khoehng: Patricia A Jackson is a Dark Jedi Nut. Both of these stories feature Dark Jedi she created. While I am sick of Dark Jedi popping up whenever you kick a rock these days, these are good stories. While the Longest Fall is not really my cup of tea, it is a bit obvious, Uhl Eharl Khoehng is a great story. It comes back to the Dark Jedi and family featured in her story from Tales from the Empier. The Emotion and writing is GOOD in this one.

No Disitegrations, Please:

Paul Danner scores with this story, featuring the only movie character in the ENTIRE book, Boba Fett. It follows Fett as he battles an Imperial garrison for a bounty. Nice to really see Fett in major action.

The other stories are- Conflict of Interest, a nice one about the morality of the individuals and their respective govornments, Day of the Sepulchral Night, an interesting exposition on Weequays, and The Last Hand, a really nice story about a great gambler with a big heart, who (gasp!) is not Lando. I would be remiss if I did not commend Paul Youl for his wonderful cover, one of his best. (I still prefer the Bacta War cover) This book is 5/5, even better than its companion.

Caesar
Published in Hardcover by Basic Books (February, 1996)
Authors: Christian Meier and David McLintock
Average review score:

Dense but often illuminating
Having some familiarity already with Roman history, I probably did not suffer as many may do reading this book if they do not know already the outlines of the era. Meier has the weaknesses of the Germanic intellect: he is longwinded, dense, and fuzzy at the edges, sometime rhapsodizing incoherently for pages about Some Big Concept he has contrived to explain Caesar's force and character. On the other hand, some of his ideas are compellng, especially his elaborate (and thematic) treatment of The Outsider as exemplified by Marius and Sulla, both of whom later served as models for Caesar.

But certain things are just fudged over, and left unclear. I only discovered by reading at the same time in Finley Hooper's "Roman Realities" (o.p.; get it out of the library) that Clodius, who was a wild man and sometime ally/enemy of Caesar, as well as Cicero and others, was the same Clodius who forced Caesar to divorce his wife Pompeia when Clodius allegedly tried to seduce her by dressing as a female slave and infiltrating Caesar's house. This is only symptomatic. The whole Catilinarian conspiracy is similarly befogged with intrigue, which of course it was at the time; but it is the duty of the historian to clarify such events.

All in all, I much prefer Michael Grant's book on Caesar, which is now o.p. too. However, it was shorter, more succinct, and not as rich in speculation as Meier's. This book is very thought-provoking at times, but don't rely on it to give you a coherent picture of this time. For Caesar's remarkable personality, though, it's probably the best.

A fascinating read
Meier considers his book a "scholarly biography," but it's intended for a general audience -- in omitting footnotes and even a bibliography, for example, he already sets his book apart from the usual scholarly studies. Meier has clearly done a great deal of research and thinking on the subject over a long period of time, and he readily presents the conflicting theories behind many events in and facets of Caesar's life. If you're looking for a detailed military analysis of "Caesar the General" and his campaigns specifically, this isn't it. The book is part biography, part character analysis; while the latter is always dangerous when dealing with a titanic historical figure like Caesar, Meier never stoops to the kind of superficial psychoanalysis that too often plagues biographies dealing with great figures from antiquity (such as Alexander the Great). He bases his ideas on the ancient sources and the work of prominent scholars throughout history. Meier's many questions and hypotheses are always considered and balanced, and often more than intriguing -- particularly interesting to me is the way in which he contrasts Caesar as a mover of events and as one being moved along by them at various times in this turbulent period. I often got the impression that I was reading the work of a scholar who was happy to free himself from the usual academic restraints and was simply letting all of his ideas and questions out of the bag, and that's refreshing. Meier does a fine job of synthesizing the life and career of a complicated, restless man and the development of a very complex era into a readable and fascinating book -- he covers all the various aspects of Caesar's life in a balanced way (the brilliant general, the ambitious politician, the shrewd diplomat, the writer, etc.). It's a bit plodding in spots, and it would help the reader to know the basic outline of the period before delving into the book, but overall it's a great read. This is one of the best biographies of Caesar available. My only gripes are the total absence of ANY references and the sloppy editing of this edition: the former was Meier's choice, the latter the oversight of the publisher of this edition.

Fascinating; not for a casual reading
I read this book for summer reading and, while some parts are tedious if you are not an expert on politics and the late Roman Republic, I thouroughly enjoyed it. Meier does an excellent job in analyzing the character of Caesar and making him seem real. He also gives us an account of the late Roman Republic. While the book is primarily about Caesar it branches of into Roman politics and personalities which can occasionally be confusing but are nevertheless helpfull. This book is definitely not for the reader looking for some quick information on Caesar, it is a detailed, in-depth account of his life and times. I recommend that before you pick up this book you have some solid knowledge of Caesar and Rome or you will find yourself lost and unable to enjoy This excellent detailing of Caesar's life and times.

The Prodigal Spy
Published in Hardcover by Broadway Books (December, 1998)
Author: Joseph Kanon
Average review score:

Predictable Resolution Wastes Great Potential
The Prodigal Spy begins well with the McCarthyesque trial of Walter Kotlar experienced through the eyes of his son, Nick. Nick's certainty in his father's innnocence he discovers his father has one shirt the size the star witness claims to have sold him and rushes to get rid of the "evidence." Thinking he has fixed the problem, he is devastated when Walter flees after the suicide (murder?) of the key witness against him to turn up much later as a defector in the Soviet Union. Nick may be a bit precocious, but his actions seem plausibly childlike and realistic in his naive belief that getting rid of the shirt got rid of the problem. There is tremendous emotional power in this section of the book and it draws the reader in with its promise.

Years pass and and the adult Nick is asked by his father to help him come home by finding the important, and still active spy, who orchestrated Walter's defection in order to protect himself from discovery. This sets up what should be a satisfying and intriguing mystery, except the clues are too obvious and Nick to obtuse to see them.

The older Nick isn't as clever as the young Nick or surely he would have solved the mystery of who was the important spy as soon as he discovered his father's lighter was found at the scene of the suicide - now surely a murder. His equally obtuse inability to understand the witness's letter and discover who was the prime mover in this family tragedy was just as frustrating to this reader who wanted to shake him and tell him to just stop and think for one minute.

Over all, this is a fine story. It's well-written. The dialogue is credible and it's emotionally satisfying. However, as a mystery it lacks subtlety.

great spy yarn
I fell in love with Kanon's dialogue in Los Alamos but found myself ignoring the love story and wanting more mystery. The Prodigal Spy was much more to my liking in this respect. The dialogue is great, not cheesy and mundane like most books these days. The story between father and son is gripping. Normally I'm not interested in this type of story, family redemption and so on, but this book somehow made it not only work, but made it interesting. The cold war setting is well layed out, and his descriptions of Prague and its Big Brother way of life are eerily well written. It's this middle section of the book, when the protagonist visits his father in Prague and is accused of murder, when he must deal with lack of freedom in a communist state and find a way out of his mess, that really proves Kanon's ability to tell a great story. The ending seemed too quick paced, and sadly it was pretty easy to figure out who the killer was(the last five pages do contain a nice twist though). All in all I highly recomend this to anyone who likes a great history oriented story, and of course, a good old fashion spy yarn.

Definitely a Home Run
When I read Walter Kanon's first novel, "Los Alamos," I felt that we had a new thriller writer with real potential on our hands. That book didn't quite work, with the author spending too much time on atmosphere and the characters and not enough time on the plot. After all, in my book you read a thriller for the plot - if you want great characters and atmosphere, read Flaubert or Bellow. With "The Prodigal Spy," however, Mr. Kanon has definitely hit a home run. The characters are truly vivid, and the atmosphere of 1969 Prague is very well done indeed. But it is the plot that will stay in my mind, enthralling in its detail, complexity and surprises; all elements of the story are expertly balanced, making for a very enjoyable experience. This tale of a young man travelling behind the Iron Curtain to meet his long-lost defector father and then returning to the United States to uncover an even more important mole is worthy of comparison with le Carre, Greene and even Eric Ambler himself. I thought the denoument rather predictable, but that didn't spoil "a cracking good read." Bravo!

Fortune's Favorites
Published in Hardcover by William Morrow (October, 1993)
Author: Colleen McCullough
Average review score:

This is not what you'd expect . . .
Colleen McCullough has done a fine job of recreating the Roman world in her "Masters of Rome" series, but her flaws show in "Fortune's Favorites." More on those later. For those expecting the rich characterization of "The First Man in Rome" or the emotional punch of "The Grass Crown": You're going to be disappointed.

McCullough truncates the civil war between consuls Carbo, Cinna and Sulla to the final few months, but what she gives us in return is meager. Her portrayal of Sulla's last years is the book's biggest disappointment. Part of Sulla's glamour is his incredible physical presence and charisma; by making him repulsive, she robs him of any attraction save for some rubber-necking curiosity over what new monstrosities he'll commit. Sulla just doesn't connect here, which is a shame for a character who was vivid and alive in her previous two novels. The only time he's enjoyable--when he isn't wreaking havoc in people's lives--is when he's playing off young Pompey's breathtaking self-centeredness.

(Breathtaking, by the way, is the word. Wait until you read Pompey's letter to Sulla from Africa. If you don't get the joke, just read Sulla's answer).

"Fortune's Favorites" jolts the reader back and forth between Pompey, young Julius Caesar, Quintus Sertorius, Spartacus, and Marcus Licinius Crassus. While it is refreshing to see Crassus portrayed as a decent family man at heart (in spite of his greed), the other portrayals are disheartening. Pompey was easily led, immature, fond of believing what his flatterers said about him, and willful, so McCullough hits the mark (even though her broad portrayal of him makes him seem clownish rather than charming). And Sertorius retains some sympathy through his attachment to a particular white fawn. But McCullough's bias for Caesar is undisguised, and some readers might find her portrayal of him to be too much of a "superhero" cast. And her treatment of Spartacus is, in my opinion, implausible and unnecessary, unless her publisher told her to avoid any comparison with the Kirk Douglas film of the same name. In that case, why not tell it completely from the Roman point of view?

For its flaws, "Fortune's Favorites" isn't all bad. Some parts of it are entertaining; I refer to any encounter between Sulla and Pompey, and Sulla's dealings with the Senate. Yet when it comes to her characters, McCullough fails to create solid, believable women; while Aurelia remains McCullough's premier heroine in this series, no other woman comes close to her. McCullough's women are just not as well-drawn and, often, not as interesting as her men--which is a shame.

McCullough has polished two flaws into glaring annoyances. The first is her mastery of the information dump--whole pages of exposition litter "Fortune's Favorites," with no relief in sight except to skip through the book and hope a conversation or a letter breaks out. The second is her lavish use of anachronistic language throughout the book. It's jarring and it breaks the flow of the story.

One final quibble: Whoever commissioned the Harlequin-reject cover for the paperback edition should be forced to live in a room papered all over with the covers from Regency Line romances. If nothing else, the nauseating presentation is a perfect reason to spend more money and buy the hardcover edition.

great sequel, if less unified
This continuation volume is a bit disjointed when compared to the wonderfully unified earlier volumes. You have Sulla, who has suddenly become very ill and aged, in the ascendant; his soul sickness comes to full flower here with his power, which he wields with the most chilling ruthlessness as he attempts to return Rome to an earlier age. Then, there is the young Julius Caesar, whose star is just beginning to rise and whose character is utterly unique and fascinating. (There is an hilarious episode where he is captured by pirates, whom he seduces with his wit while telling them he will return and crucify them, which he subsequently does.) The narrative shuttles between the two rather disjointedly, in a time of change as the Roman Republic breathes its last.

Despite this disjointedness, I enjoyed this novel as much as I did the previous ones. Indeed, I was enthralled as I experienced the history of Rome, which I have studied my entire adult life, in a new way. This is one of the best series of historical novels I have ever read and I can't wait to read the next ones in the series.

I believe that McCullough achieves her ambition of making as complete a portrait of an age as can be done in fiction. Warmly recommended.

A disjointed effort
I have now read all five books in the Masters of Rome series, and this is the first time I gave one of the wonderful books in this series four stars. Although this book is pretty good, it is worse than the other four: "First Man in Rome", "The Grass Crown", "Caesar's Women", and "Caesar".

The main reason for this book falling short of the others is that it does not have a central character or characters. The characters in the forefront in this period are Sulla, Pompey the Great, Lucullus, Crassus, Sertorius, and Spartacus. Caesar, no matter how much the author wants to focus on him, does not have much to do. Instead of trying to tie him into the experiences of others, it would have been better to focus on Pompey and Crassus, for example, with Caesar lurking in the background. I think the greatest problem for the author is how to deal with the book after Sulla's death. "The Grass Crown", ended with Marius' death with stage now set for Sulla to take over. It was an appropriate ending but when Sulla retires and then dies in "Fortune's Favorites", the thread of the story begun in "The First Man in Rome" ends. So, McCullough came up with the theme of "fortune's favorites", which works OK but not well enough. Since she has to continue with the story after Sulla's death, a hodge-podge of characters and events abound. Caesar's exploits are interesting but they take attention away from the people who were actually doing something. As I said before, I feel that Pompey should have been in the center of the novel, with both Lucullus and Crassus vying with him to be the First Man in Rome. Pompey, at the start of the book, looked promising but his war in Spain against Sertorius is quite dry (I admit I do not like military campaigns but enjoyed them in "Caesar") and not enough is said about it. Everything that leads to his consulship is squashed into the last hundred pages or so and then all the credit and attention goes to Caesar. This is contrary to historical evidence and the point could have been made more subtly.

Another person who was emerging as a potential First Man in Rome is Lucullus. The author mentions his vices as well as his unwavering loyalty to Sulla, attachment to his brother, Varro Lucullus, and fairness, but it is not enough. The author barely scratches the surface of this complicated man and does not even go into details to describe his campaign against Mithradates, which made him a virtual god in the East.

I was eager to see how McCullough would handle Spartacus. I can't say that I am disappointed with the way she presented Spartacus' plight and origins, but I am disappointed that she painted a rather one-dimensional picture of him. I was surprised that she deemed Crassus a capable general. It was more likely that Crass was just lucky and Spartacus' army less numerous and well equipped than McCullough would like the readers to believe. This factor especially contradicts Crassus' military disasters later on in "Caesar". Again, giving all the credit of what Crassus did during his consulship and his cooperation with Pompey to Caesar is not well supported historically.

Caesar's adventures themselves, especially against the pirates and in Bithynia at the court of King Nicomedes, are interesting. I especially liked the description of his stay in Bithynia where for the first time in the series a human Caesar emerges. But soon enough, he becomes a demigod. According to McCullough, he basically controls what goes on in Rome and advises the consuls, very correctly, what to do and how to do it. It is hard to sympathize with someone who is so much better than anyone else. McCullough makes Caesar so patronizing and arrogant that no matter how many tragedies befall him later on in the book, I stopped sympathizing with him. The good news is that she returns him to the realm of the living in the next two books.

I was extremely disappointed with depictions of certain characters. Cinnilla, Caesar's wife, is non-existent. There is a mention of her here and there but she remains completely invisible. Perhaps that was her role in Caesar's life, still, there should have been a LOT more effort made on the author's part to describe her. Caesar's Aunt Julia is barely present throughout the novel so unless the reader read "The Grass Crown" it is hard to understand what she meant to Caesar. Metellus Pius "The Piglet" is an intriguing character but McCullough does not elaborate on the change in him during the time Pompey arrives in Spain. Something MUST have happened but McCullough is extremely vague about what it is.

Finally, a note on the Eastern kings. WHERE ARE THEY? In "First Man in Rome", McCullough spent at least part of the narrative on Jugurtha. In "The Grass Crown", there was extensive information on Mithradates and Tigranes. In "Fortune's Favorites", Mithradates and Tigranes are barely mentioned. Ptolemy Alexander, prior to his assuming the throne of Egypt, gets some attention but not enough is said about what occurred with his Queen Berenice. Mithradatis Nysa also gets some mention but her story is abruptly ended and not picked up later on. It would have made this book a lot more colorful if the view of the Eastern kings was presented.

I really liked this book but I am very passionate about these series and wish that "Fortune's Favorites" could live up to the rest of the series.

Azerbaijan Diary: A Rogue Reporter's Adventures in an Oil-rich, War-torn Post-Soviet Republic
Published in Hardcover by M.E.Sharpe (May, 1998)
Author: Thomas Goltz
Average review score:

The best coverage of Karabakh conflict
Twice during the recent years, in 1992 and in 1994, I visited Azerbaijan with a group of other French journalists. All I have heard about this country was the war in Karabakh and oil reserves. I was biased, filled with pro-Armenian information typical to most of the Western media. However, the truth I found, from first hands, eyewitnesses, people who experienced the horrors of that bloody conflict changed my view by 180 degrees. I think the author of this book, Thomas Goltz, underwent the same experience as I did.

In fact, Armenia proved to be the aggressor, Azerbaijan was the victim! The crimes of Armenian military units against Azerbaijani women, children, elderly can not be described in any human language. Dead bodies were mutilated, eyes pierced, ears torn, people were burned alive. I know that because I have seen the pictures and actually visited the sites of these massacres. And I am grateful to Thomas Goltz that he made sure the world knows about the truth. Particularly, the chapter of the book concerning Khodjali massacre deserve a special recognition.

Who were those Armenian militants, what did they want?

They were so-called "freedom fighters", their desire was to create "Great Armenia", "Black Sea to Caspian", "to clean Caucasus from Azeri Turks' (i.e. Azerbaijanis). They were armed by Russian weapons and ideological fiction of Armenian "historians" which completely ignored the facts and rewrote the entire history of the region. Their idea was about the "supreme", "most ancient" Armenian nation which has a "historical right" to take back "its lands", by killing, raping destroying everybody on its way. And that is how the Karabakh war started.

Ironically, this ancient Azerbaijani land now invaded by Armenian military was the home for most of Azerbaijani poets, writers, musicians. There is no credible record in the history that Karabakh ever belonged to Armenia. Even the ancient churches in there were built by Caucasian Albanians, the Christian ancestors of modern Muslim Azerbaijanis. The first Armenians moved there only 150 years ago, supported by Russian Empire.

Anyway, it is sad that Thomas Goltz is one of the few reporters who had enough courage to write the truth about this region. The conflict is still not finished, and Azerbaijan is still subject to illegal Armenian occupation on the verge of 21st century. The country with huge oil reserves and strategic interests of the West is also a constant subject of Russian political-economical attack. Unfortunately, century long propaganda machine of Armenia managed to mislead the world and hide the crimes committed against Azerbaijani population of Karabakh and other lands invaded by Armenians.

Great for anyone interested in Caucasus.
In contrast to the biased racist literature spread by Armenian propaganda machine, Thomas Goltz's book stands out in its objectivity. As an American who lived long time in both Azerbaijan and Armenia, I can confirm that this book describes the real events and history behind the Nagorny Karabakh conflict without any distortion.

The author skillfully unmasks the atrocities committed by Armenian military against civilian Azerbaijani population of Karabakh. He also mentions how these crimes were hidden from the world and Armenia was pictured as a "victim" while Armenian army gradually occupied Azerbaijani land, brutally killing and destroying everything on its way.

Another interesting point in the book is the historical aspect. Thomas Goltz reveals the classical example of "rewriting" history. That is how Armenian "historians" created myth of "Great Armenia" and used it to "inspire" Armenian youth into the war against their neighbors. That is similar to what Serbian government tried to do in Kosova. The only difference is that here, in Karabakh, Armenian so-called "patriots" succeeded in ethnic cleansing and managed to mislead the world community.

Strangely enough, fair journalist from the West
Although many "reviewers" here might disagree with me, but this is a pretty neutral, fair, clear and well-explained story about Azerbaijan's Independece. As it is seen, many reviewers of Armenian origin feel hatred towards everything connected to fair judging of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. I would like to ask those reviwers to not mislead the content of the book. IT IS NOT ABOUT ARMENIAN GENOCIDE BY OTTOMANS. Proof your disagreemen by evidences...!!! Finish this disinformation. Let people at least see one fair book about Dagliq Qarabag in the West!!!

Related Vacation Book Subjects: Kansas
More Pages: Republic Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90