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A review by mattvarosky
Cleopatra: The Queen Who Challenged Rome and Conquered Eternity by Alberto Angela
5.0
Just a ridiculously readable history. Alberto Angela takes all the elements of Cleopatra's intersection with Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and Octavian that might have been made dry and stale by decades of tweed-wearing (and overwhelmingly male) academics and gives it an undeniably sexy, cinematic treatment. From Cleopatra's perfume-ad introduction to her jaw-dropping stagecraft to manipulate Caesar and Antony, to her Daenerys Stormborn-like final act, Angela rehabs her image from femme fatale to master stateswoman.
Granted, there might be some undeniable male Italian gaze still going on, and long digressions, however necessary, into the stories of her male counterparts, but the overall effect is a stunning, novelistic tribute.
Granted, there might be some undeniable male Italian gaze still going on, and long digressions, however necessary, into the stories of her male counterparts, but the overall effect is a stunning, novelistic tribute.