Roman Realities

by Finley Hooper

Book Overview

Based on the major primary sources of Roman history, this book recalls the experiences of the ancient Romans through a thousand years of their history. Roman Realities recalls the experiences of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814315941
• Release Date: January 1978
• Publisher: Wayne State University Press
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 1.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.4" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Another positive review

Just adding my voice to all the positive reviews. I've tried reading other books on ancient Rome and found them to be dry and academic. Hooper presents the history as a history of people, as another reviewer has said, and that makes it much more readable. He gives personalities to the main characters and renders for us the atmosphere and class tensions that surround major events and clashes. He tells where he gets his information and even reviews his sources as strong on some points, weak on others. Finally, it is well-written. Hooper knows his material and knows how to make it interesting. Having said all that, this is not an encyclopedic source book. If you need to know specific facts about a certain period of ancient Rome, then the dry, academic works are where you should start. Roman Realities is a book for those who really want to get a sense of what Rome was like- its people, its politics and its social dynamics.

Roman Realities by Finley Hooper

Although I keep myself busy reading investment publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Forbes and BusinessWeek (since I am a financial writer), I also spend my spare time reading about ancient history, particularly the Greeks and Romans. I've tried to get a handle on Egypt but without much success. Among the authors I have read are Michael Grant and Finley Hooper. For the most part, I have not found Michael Grant a very scintillating read-although he does have one fascinating book on Caesar that is read by Nelson Runger for Recorded Books. He knows the territory, but he is not much of a writer. By contrast, the late Finley Hooper has only two books that I am familiar with: Greek Realities and Roman Realities. Roman Realities is a gem of a book. If I were cast ashore on a desert island, it is one of the 10 books I would hope got washed ashore with me. Dr. Hooper is a superb writer, whose style is crisp and eminently readable. In addition, he focuses on the people more than trends and how the people lived. For my money, people are the key to history. His chapter on Julius Caesar is one of the best summaries of this important figure in Roman history. If you are intent on reading further about the Romans, Dr. Hooper provides an outstanding list of books to delve into. He also has a detailed index, which some books do not have. There are also plenty of illustrations and helpful maps. I have read this book at least twice and intend to read it again. All told, I have about 75 books on ancient history, but this one stands out like a beacon. There is simply nothing of a negative nature that I could possible find. John Slatter, CFA

A fine history of Rome

Dr Hooper does an excellent job on Roman Realities. He not only does a fine job in outlining the history of Rome's transition from Republic to Empire but he also highlights the price of that empire. The inability of the Romans to adjust to the changes that hegemony brought about contained the seeds of its own destruction.Hoopers narrative is clear and concise and is easily understood by students or laymen. As is pointed out in an excellent review below it is a bit outdated in some areas but its analysis is so well done that few books published on the empire today can match this wonderful book. The reflection on the causes of the fall of Rome are worth the price of the book itself. Reading Hooper brings to light that fact that much of Roman history is a foreshadowing of the realities empires in every era face.

It's a good book...

I read Roman Realities for a class that I had to take for Roman History, although we only touched on a few of the earlier aspects of the book, it is still a great book just to read, even if it wasn't assigned for a class! If you have any intrest to learn about the Rome in any way, go ahead and get this book!

A lively, well-researched history of Ancient Rome.

Dr. Hooper skillfully combines the writings of ancient authors with contemporary research in a bright retelling of Roman history. The book does not burden the reader with an arid text or cumbersome footnotes, but provides instead a straightforward narrative which is easy to read yet not lacking in detail. Those who seek a proper introduction to the great Roman writers will benefit from this book as they are well profiled and quoted throughout. The scope of "Roman Realities" is mainly on politics, literature, philosophy, economics, and early Christianity. Dr. Hooper does not delve into artistic/architectural history or the social customs and pagan religions of the era, although he lists several works on each of these and other topics in an extensive bibliography. The author presents in the final chapter a useful discussion of the possible causes behind the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, plus an appendix summarizing the ancient sources for Roman history. As the book was published almost 20 years ago, minor revisions may be warranted, e.g., updating the discussion on archeological findings at Pompeii and Herculaneum. "Roman Realities" is a fine introduction to a civilization whose influence survives to this day in our own Western civilization