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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
Goldsworthy's biography on Julius Caesar is both insightful and full of details. It is bound to intrigue and excite both the professional historian and the casual reader. He balances Caesar's character in the light of the times he lived in making him more of a "product of his environment" rather than the exception to the rule. His insights in to Caesar's brilliance as a military tactician make it hard to put down this book during any of the battles, which take up a good half to two-thirds of the book. However, there is one drawback to this book, which makes me give it four stars instead of five. This is the first third of the book dealing with the time from Caesar's birth to the end of his consulship just before the Gallic campaigns. While I grant that there are a lot of holes in the historical record about this part of Caesar's life, it doesn't make up for the lack of polish and purpose that seem to pervade the rest of the biography. Because of this it may take some time for a casual reader to warm up to the book. In fact, Goldsworthy spends so much time defending or speculating on Caesar's life before Gaul that if one only knew Goldsworthy's book it would be hard to say what, if anything, Caesar did before Gaul. Despite this, it is an incredible read and I recommend it to anyone interested in Julius Caesar.