The Roman Record: Hot News from the Swirling Mists of Time

by Paul Dowswell

Tabloid-style articles offer information about ancient Rome, including its culture, customs, religion, and history

Genres: History, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Paul Dowswell is a British writer of nonfiction and young adult novels who has written over 70 books for British publishers. He was a senior editor at Usborne Publishing, then went freelance in 1999.

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting way to present the course of Roman history through satirical newspapers. The content was quite solid as well (to my surprise). I wonder who the target audience is (definitely too much for little kids, who I assumed this would’ve been for). Glad I picked this up for a fun and surprisingly informative ride.

[William Razavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alright, whatever this book screws up in terms of history it makes up for in fun. In some ways this reminds me of the old Best of The Onion collections which were themselves a parody of the older books that used to be put out by all the newspapers and famous magazines.
It can rely on some cliches and bulldozes over any nuance or complexity, but that's what you'd get even in a serious short history and at least here it's in the guise of reporters with names like Septimus Sleazius.

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Newspaper format of almost anything you can think of in ancient Roman history. We used it to review the parts of Roman history we had studied. I liked these brief articles and thought they were a little catchy, but but my kids really didn't connect with it at all. I would like to revisit this one next time we study Roman history when they are a little bigger.