The Storm Before the Storm

I enjoyed this book, the recount of the story prior to the end of the roman Republic is full of intrigue and magnificent characters. I found it very interesting.

It is impossible to read this without finding parallels to the present-day U.S. republic, and difficult not to get caught up in depressing ruminations of where we're headed, but that's not fair: this is a great book in its own right, well written and informative and enjoyable, and it's worth the effort to leave the present behind and focus on what Duncan has to say.

Didn't review this my first time through, so might as well do it now. If you like Mike Duncan and/or Roman history, this is likely to be something you enjoy. Duncan has such a good voice for teaching history, I don't know why, but it's just the perfect delivery system to hear facts about history.

This book focuses on the stuff that happens before all the stuff you know about happens. Reading about the Caesar/Cicero/Pompey/Mark Antony era of Rome can get exhausting, just because it has been covered SO much. I had already known the very basic, bare bones facts about some of the time period covered here, but Duncan went into enough detail that even on the second read through, I learned new things.

A solid, sober history of the Roman Republic on the era between the Third Punic War and Sulla's dictatorship. I particular appreciated Duncan's lack of judgment. He made it very clear that there was no “good” and “bad” ; as ever, there are only competing interests and unconfronted realities.

I absolutely loved this book. Found it to be a fascinating look at the era leading up to a historical giant's last days: the people, pressures, disputes and dynamics that transitioned the Roman Republic into an Empire, normalized political violence, and set the stage for one of history's greatest falls.

I missed Mike Duncan. Get the audiobook if you want the real experience. Impeccable research in a truly digestible format. 

This was kind of a repeat for me, since I listened to the podcast when it was originally made. I like the recounting of how the empire started to lose its way and how the stage was set for Julius Caesar to make his run at being first amongst equals. The author makes the history very approachable, and hints at some parallels to our current times even as he discounts that the comparisons can be really made.