Augustus

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but...
Review: The book was interresting. However, it emphasizes mostly his youth and rise to Princeps. His entire career after the death of Marcus Antonius is much too brief. Also, there's too much stuff on M. Antonius which makes this book a kind of dual-biography.
His complex and long relationship with Livia could have been described more. I preferred his other books (Sulla, Tiberius).

Rating:
Summary: From Octavianus to Deity
Review: The story of Octavian is, as a matter of pure political history, one of the most intriguing of all time: the physically unimpressive, inexperienced teenager who survives his uncle's assassination to navigate his way to the supreme leadership of the world's greatest military empire. The story of Octavian necessitates the telling of the stories of Brutus, Cicero and Marcus Antonius, the saga of Cleopatra and Aggripa's triumph at Actium. Baker does this very well indeed, but his narrative of this tale lacks the sharpness of his Sulla bio. Three quarters of the book is pre-Augustan, leaving relatively little consideration to the years as imperator. (For this, I recommend the chapter in Grant's Twelve Caesars.) Still, a literate and well paced narrative.

Rating:
Summary: From Octavianus to Deity
Review: The story of Octavian is, as a matter of pure political history, one of the most intriguing of all time: the physically unimpressive, inexperienced teenager who survives his uncle's assassination to navigate his way to the supreme leadership of the world's greatest military empire. The story of Octavian necessitates the telling of the stories of Brutus, Cicero and Marcus Antonius, the saga of Cleopatra and Aggripa's triumph at Actium. Baker does this very well indeed, but his narrative of this tale lacks the sharpness of his Sulla bio. Three quarters of the book is pre-Augustan, leaving relatively little consideration to the years as imperator. (For this, I recommend the chapter in Grant's Twelve Caesars.) Still, a literate and well paced narrative.