Rome from the Ground Up

by James H.S. McGregor

Rome is not one city but many, each with its own history unfolding from a different now the trading port on the Tiber; now the Forum of antiquity; the Palatine of imperial power; the Lateran Church of Christian ascendancy; the Vatican; the Quirinal palace. Beginning with the very shaping of the ground on which Rome first rose, this book conjures all these cities, past and present, conducting the reader through time and space to the complex and shifting realities--architectural, historical, political, and social--that constitute Rome.

A multifaceted historical portrait, this richly illustrated work is as gritty as it is gorgeous, immersing readers in the practical world of each period. James McGregor's explorations afford the pleasures of a novel thick with characters and plot amid the life struggles, hopes, and failures of countless generations, we see how things truly worked, then and now; we learn about the materials of which Rome was built; of the Tiber and its bridges; of roads, aqueducts, and sewers; and, always, of power, especially the power to shape the city and imprint it with a particular personality--like that of Nero or Trajan or Pope Sixtus V--or a particular institution.

McGregor traces the successive urban forms that rulers have imposed, from emperors and popes to national governments including Mussolini's. And, in archaeologists' and museums' presentation of Rome's past, he shows that the documenting of history itself is fraught with power and politics. In McGregor's own beautifully written account, the power and politics emerge clearly, manifest in the distinctive styles and structures, practical concerns and aesthetic interests that constitute the myriad Romes of our day and days past.

Genres: Travel, History, Nonfiction, Architecture, Italy

368 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2005

About the author

When I was ten I borrowed my Dad’s Smith-Corona portable typewriter and started a novel about pirates. I didn’t get very far. A few years later the Smith-Corona went to college then grad school with me. Its completion rate increased, but the work it was called on to turn out—term papers in sociology, political science, Russian history and the like—was less exciting if more meaningful than my first attempt. After working my way through a number of undergraduate majors, I stumbled into Comparative Literature and the typing grew more focused, more earnest and more fun.
Comparative Literature turned into a career. The Smith-Corona morphed into a series of ever cheaper, ever smaller and more efficient computers. I wrote professional articles and books on Giovanni Boccaccio and other figures in medieval Italian literary history. Near the end of my academic career, I started writing books about cities. It turned out that all those term papers on social science and history had been waiting for a chance to get into conversation with the art and literature I had been teaching. The first book, called Rome from the Ground Up, described a city where I had spent two important, eye opening years.
That book was under contract with a small press in lower Manhattan when the World Trade Center was hit. The editor there believed that the market for books about foreign cities had collapsed with the second tower and decided not to publish. I sold Rome to Yale University Press about a year later. When my editor at Yale left, enthusiasm for publishing the book went with him. Fortunately I’d gotten a good reading of the book from an expert Yale had consulted, and with that in hand, I approached the literature editor at Harvard UP. He was persuaded, and I was offered a contract. On the strength of the contract, I was able to sign on with a wonderful literary agent.
Four books later, HUP and I parted ways. Yale, under dynamic new leadership, is the publisher of my latest book, which is a new direction for me but also a complement to my city books. Four of those books--Paris, Rome, Venice and Athens--focus on places either in the Mediterranean or deeply engaged with it. The new book, Back to the Garden, looks at that part of the world and the societies it has influenced from a rural rather than an urban viewpoint. It traces the history of regional reliance on and understanding of the natural environment.
For the last year I’ve been writing a follow up book that focuses on American environmental issues, especially our muddled thinking about two critical and confusing topics: wilderness on the one hand, wild (and domestic) animals on the other.
Now retired from academics, I live in Cambridge with my wife (we met in Rome!). And though it pains me to confess it, I still have nothing meaningful to say about pirates.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book about Rome. It tells the history of the city by describing the buildings from each era and the way the buildings fit into the political, social, economic, and cultural history of the city. The author demonstrates that Rome is rich in history and architecture from so many eras- ancient, empire, medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Mannerist and 19th-20th century. The author is not an art historian yet he writes about the built environment and the art within it as an art historian would. I was happy to find a guide to Rome that did not have many pages devoted to restaurants and hotels but rather focused on buildings and works of art.

[Fred Jenkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the author is clearly knowledgeable and enthusiastic, this text often becomes a tedious compilation of catalogues of objects and descriptions of buildings. There are a lot of illustrations but they are all small insets, so not much detail. The book desperately needs more, larger, and better illustrations. There are some interesting historical bits and anecdotes but not enough to keep the reader engaged. The maps at the back of the book are probably its best and most useful feature. I like Rome and wanted to like this book, but the author needs to do more!

[Mark Mazelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It’s probably best to read it after a trip to Rome, but I was able to still appreciate the places I didn’t see by searching for them on the Internet so even if you haven’t been, this book can still be enjoyed. The author writes in a way that is as exhausting as travel: there is so much to take in but you want to keep going. It is one of the best books I read this year.

[M Way · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry but thorough with amazing details of the history of architecture in Rome

[Lily M ❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

too much of a catalogue of streets and buildings

[Blair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never been to Rome, though I will be going there soon (in January - am I crazy?) I do have some knowledge of Roman and Italian history, which made this book somewhat comprehensible to me. However, it is loaded with detail about every ruin, monument and church without giving the poor reader any geographical context. The few pictures are postage stamp sized, and there are almost no maps to give me any idea where these places are. This book may be useful for someone intimately familiar with Rome, but for the new visitor the mass of detail is overwhelming. I skipped a good part of it.

[Iniville · Rating 5 out of 5]

He makes you feel like you were there.

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great way to take in Roman history and the story behind its incredible buildings. I think that some large photos and maps would really have complemented the narrative.