Roman Realities

by Finley Hooper

Recalls the experiences of the ancient Romans thru a 1000 years of their history, emphasizing the problems produced by their successes & the lessons to be learned from their failures. It's based on the major primary sources of Roman history, with illuminating parallels between ancient & modern times. As Hooper says in his introduction, "Anyone concerned about present problems will profit from reading about how the Romans went about solving theirs."
Finley Hooper's history of Rome covers the usual ground from Rome's origins to the Western Empire's end. But it sparkles with lucidity, grace, insight & confident learning. Not merely a scholarly narrative, Roman Realities plays off modern scholarship against what the Romans (eg, Livy, Polybius, Cicero, Plutarch) said of themselves & their past, thereby drawing readers directly into the historical issues & drama & into disparate Roman minds. With an awareness of what evidence is reliable, he interweaves Roman reportage & philosophy, anecdotes & analyses to provide a rich version of human character, social life, politics & culture in Rome thru periods of vitality & decay, renewal & ultimate decline. We see Hannibal, unsurpassed military tactician, defeated finally by Roman resilience; Julius Caesar, brilliant, charming, confident, strong & popular, undone by lack of tact & self-discipline; Cicero, orator of genius, moralist of traditional virtues, victimized by his vanity; Augustus, austere, decisive, capable of cruelty & good sense, who set a precedent impossible to follow. Hooper's manner is well-suited to his interpretation of Rome's fall. From the late years of the Republic onward, respect for constitutional political life lessened: some citizens took the law into their own hands & finally the power of the military & the emperor & the influence of the rich subverted the strong political spirit which had sustained Rome for centuries. At the same time, the Empire also lost the allegiance of the intellectuals, who'd nourished the Roman spirit through meditations on law, history & philosophy: thinkers now became theologians & turned toward the other world. Hooper's survey (a successor to Greek Realities '67) breathes life into a subject easily made dull & thus serves as a fine introduction & synthesis.--Kirkus (edited)

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Classics, Ancient History

592 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Finley Allison Hooper was a historian who spent many years teaching at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where he was Professor Emeritus of History at the time of his death in 1993. He had earlier served as visiting assistant professor of history at the University of Michigan, where he had earned his PhD. Professor Hooper was a specialist in classical Greek and Roman civilisation. He had more than two thousand scholarly articles published during his career, as well as several books. At least one of those books ('Roman Realities') was for several years widely used as a textbook in U.S. colleges and universities.

Reviews

[Rick Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great comprehensive history of Rome. I'll hopefully write a proper review later. First, I've got several chapters worth of note-taking to catch up on.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A distinctive introduction to the history of ancient Rome based on primary sources.

[Brenton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fine history that's comprehensive yet maintains a good narrative flow.