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Julius Caesar
Book on Julius Caesar.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 10, 2024
Title: Julius Caesar
Author: Manuel Komroff
Series: Messner Shelf of Biographies
Published: 1955
Target Audience: Middle school and up
With comparisons to:
Julius Caesar by John Gunther (World Landmark series #43, published 1959).
This year my 12 year old and I are studying ancient history in our homeschool. It's my fourth time through ancient history as a homeschool parent! Even though I already had the Landmark biography of Julius Casear by John Gunther on my shelf, I decided to try something new this time and pick up the Messner bio of Caeser by Komroff.
While I enjoyed the other two biographies I've read by Komroff (Marco Polo and Charlemagne) and I've never been disappointed by a Messner biography before - this time I wish I would have left well-enough alone and stuck with the Gunther bio!
On the positive side, we did enjoy the level of detail in the biography by Komroff. Though the page count is barely longer (183 pages vs. 174 pages), the text is smaller and denser in the Komroff biography. This allows for descriptions of Caesar's battles in much greater detail - something my 12 year old appreciated! While Gunther mentions several of Caesar's key battles and how they fit into his overall rise to power, Komroff spends time detailing weapons, battle tactics, and troop movements. Interestingly, one area Gunther does give a bit more detail to is Caesar's personal life. His several marriages are all discussed in Gunther's book, but Komroff, I believe, doesn't even mention them all.
Unfortunately, Komroff's biography comes across in a very biased tone toward Caesar. My 12 year old said something along the lines of, "This book sounds like it was written by a member of the Julius Casesar fan club!" While Gunther (and other authors I took a quick peek at) rightly give Caesar a great deal of credit for his political shrewdness and incredible leadership talents, they also point out his flaws, and legitimate concerns that his political opponents may have had.
Komroff goes out of his way to heap praise on everything Caesar does while using the adjective "evil" time and time again to describe his enemies. For example, "Now with the news of Caesar's second victorious summer and the acclaim of the people, these same evil senators planned to end Caesar's career" (p. 72).
While Komroff portrays Casesar as a man who only wanted what was best for the people (and just happened to mean having him as their brilliant ruler, because no one else would do a better job), Gunther gives a more balanced perspective showing that his opponents and people and Rome had genuine cause for concern, "Again there were plenty of Romans who disapproved vigorously of such a concentration of power in a single person. Good citizens, even loyal members of Caesar's own Populare party, began to say that he had become a danger to the Roman state and wanted to be king. His rule, people feared, might degenerate into outright tyranny - despotism" (Gunther, p. 150).
Though well-written otherwise, the biases and lack of balance lead me to not recommend Komroff's biography of Caesar. Gunther's biography would be a better choice, or if looking for greater detail than the Landmark offers, consider looking at other resources.
Author: Manuel Komroff
Series: Messner Shelf of Biographies
Published: 1955
Target Audience: Middle school and up
With comparisons to:
Julius Caesar by John Gunther (World Landmark series #43, published 1959).
This year my 12 year old and I are studying ancient history in our homeschool. It's my fourth time through ancient history as a homeschool parent! Even though I already had the Landmark biography of Julius Casear by John Gunther on my shelf, I decided to try something new this time and pick up the Messner bio of Caeser by Komroff.
While I enjoyed the other two biographies I've read by Komroff (Marco Polo and Charlemagne) and I've never been disappointed by a Messner biography before - this time I wish I would have left well-enough alone and stuck with the Gunther bio!
On the positive side, we did enjoy the level of detail in the biography by Komroff. Though the page count is barely longer (183 pages vs. 174 pages), the text is smaller and denser in the Komroff biography. This allows for descriptions of Caesar's battles in much greater detail - something my 12 year old appreciated! While Gunther mentions several of Caesar's key battles and how they fit into his overall rise to power, Komroff spends time detailing weapons, battle tactics, and troop movements. Interestingly, one area Gunther does give a bit more detail to is Caesar's personal life. His several marriages are all discussed in Gunther's book, but Komroff, I believe, doesn't even mention them all.
Unfortunately, Komroff's biography comes across in a very biased tone toward Caesar. My 12 year old said something along the lines of, "This book sounds like it was written by a member of the Julius Casesar fan club!" While Gunther (and other authors I took a quick peek at) rightly give Caesar a great deal of credit for his political shrewdness and incredible leadership talents, they also point out his flaws, and legitimate concerns that his political opponents may have had.
Komroff goes out of his way to heap praise on everything Caesar does while using the adjective "evil" time and time again to describe his enemies. For example, "Now with the news of Caesar's second victorious summer and the acclaim of the people, these same evil senators planned to end Caesar's career" (p. 72).
While Komroff portrays Casesar as a man who only wanted what was best for the people (and just happened to mean having him as their brilliant ruler, because no one else would do a better job), Gunther gives a more balanced perspective showing that his opponents and people and Rome had genuine cause for concern, "Again there were plenty of Romans who disapproved vigorously of such a concentration of power in a single person. Good citizens, even loyal members of Caesar's own Populare party, began to say that he had become a danger to the Roman state and wanted to be king. His rule, people feared, might degenerate into outright tyranny - despotism" (Gunther, p. 150).
Though well-written otherwise, the biases and lack of balance lead me to not recommend Komroff's biography of Caesar. Gunther's biography would be a better choice, or if looking for greater detail than the Landmark offers, consider looking at other resources.
January 30, 2018
Julius Caesar by Manuel Komroff is a kind of biography that goes down to some of the most tiny details and facts about the people in it. So in summary it is the story of Julius Caesar one of the most renowned leaders of all time and it includes everything from where he got his education, his start in politics, the wars he fought, his friends ,his enemies and how he famously died.
Caesar wanted to see rome return to its former glory which came before Sulla the great tyrant, but sulla’s friend’s who he appointed senators will not let Caesar restore rome because it would mean the end their fortune. So even though the senators are against him he is so popular with the people he wins all of his political battles and nearly all of the actual battles he partakes in.
An excerpt from the book that illustrates Manuel Komroff goes into great detail about caesar’s life is “from his earliest days he was trained in the simplest ways and manners even his education was different from that of other boys. Most roman boys were educated by greek slaves whom their parents bought as tutors but caesars father and his mother aurelia wanted caesar to be educated by a freeman and so they engaged a gentle scholar name gnipho as his teacher”. Now if this were a fictional book this wouldn’t seem like that big a of a detail but when you realize that this is true and that this happened over 2114 years ago it is actually impressive how much information that is.
Now if you like Julius Caesar by Manuel Komroff you will also like Napoleon by manuel Komroff because the storytelling is very very similar.
I would give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars because its storytelling is just so good because its amount of detail is amazing and its not like other history books that just tell you what happened. This lets you know what happens, when it happens ,where it happened ,how it happened what happened after. Everything is what it tells you basically when it comes to julius caesar and rome and that is why I love this book.
Caesar wanted to see rome return to its former glory which came before Sulla the great tyrant, but sulla’s friend’s who he appointed senators will not let Caesar restore rome because it would mean the end their fortune. So even though the senators are against him he is so popular with the people he wins all of his political battles and nearly all of the actual battles he partakes in.
An excerpt from the book that illustrates Manuel Komroff goes into great detail about caesar’s life is “from his earliest days he was trained in the simplest ways and manners even his education was different from that of other boys. Most roman boys were educated by greek slaves whom their parents bought as tutors but caesars father and his mother aurelia wanted caesar to be educated by a freeman and so they engaged a gentle scholar name gnipho as his teacher”. Now if this were a fictional book this wouldn’t seem like that big a of a detail but when you realize that this is true and that this happened over 2114 years ago it is actually impressive how much information that is.
Now if you like Julius Caesar by Manuel Komroff you will also like Napoleon by manuel Komroff because the storytelling is very very similar.
I would give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars because its storytelling is just so good because its amount of detail is amazing and its not like other history books that just tell you what happened. This lets you know what happens, when it happens ,where it happened ,how it happened what happened after. Everything is what it tells you basically when it comes to julius caesar and rome and that is why I love this book.
February 12, 2021
I thought Julius Caesar was the first king after Rome became a Republic. Manuel Komroff showed me to be mistaken in his Julius Caesar. This book is well-written, engaging, and showed me a side of Julius Caesar that I will be thinking about for years.
Caesar fought a corrupt government and his highest value was the freedom of the Roman people. He fought wars and ended a long, drawn out, bloody civil war to restore peace and freedom to his people. He upset the rich and powerful by making laws enabling the sons of freed slaves of conquered nations to have a seat at the Senate. He was offered the title of a king and rejected it and told his people that their only king was their gods.
Excellent book! This book is for middle school and up readers and it's hard to imagine a better book that they will enjoy on the subect.
Caesar fought a corrupt government and his highest value was the freedom of the Roman people. He fought wars and ended a long, drawn out, bloody civil war to restore peace and freedom to his people. He upset the rich and powerful by making laws enabling the sons of freed slaves of conquered nations to have a seat at the Senate. He was offered the title of a king and rejected it and told his people that their only king was their gods.
Excellent book! This book is for middle school and up readers and it's hard to imagine a better book that they will enjoy on the subect.
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July 14, 2010Loved it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews