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Comment by diego_moita | Hacker News Reader

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diego_moita·

I already read SPQR, by Mary Beard, on the history of Rome's kingdom, Republic and early empire.

I liked it so much that now I am in the middle of Emperor of Rome.

Does anyone here have any good recommendations on Rome's history?

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I like this historian:

https://www.amazon.com/The-Storm-Before-Storm-audiobook/dp/B...

To avoid burying information, that's "The storm before the storm" (as the slug suggests), by Mike Duncan. I can second that someone who enjoyed SPQR is likely to enjoy this one.

Check out the Storm before the Storm by Mike Duncan about the last hundred years leading up the the fall of the Roman Republic. The sequence of events and personalities that emerged were almost incomprehensible as being possible in real life. By the end of it, I couldn’t help but feel that Hollywood is dead (no movies could compare to what had unfolded in this period of time)… so much drama, tension, betrayal, reversal of fortunes, action, suspense etc had unfolded. Young Julius Caesar - and thus the entire direction of western civilization - was a whimsical decision away from being executed. Anyway that’s my hard sell, consider it.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34184069

Go back to Suetonius and The Twelve Caesars. Amazing read, even if you can't believe everything. The contemporary (or close) historians are lots of fun.

Rubicon by Tom Holland. I am currently (re)reading Gibbon.

The Gallic Wars.

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