Augustus

Rating:
Summary: Well-Categorized Overview
Review: As other reviewers have iterated, this book is a little dry and bland, yet it is also valuably thorough and complete. The first few chapters detail the upbringing and rise of Octavian (later Augustus) through politics and service to Rome under the banner of his adopted father, Caesar. The next chapters detail the governmental and constitutional process by which he gradually assumed absolute power over Rome in a way that seems to conform with Roman constitutional precepts.
This governmental section is fairly complex and can be a little confusing, as its use of uncommon Latin legal terms and concepts little known to the reader not well associated with Roman constitutionalism makes it extremely difficult to understand if a solid knowledge of Roman republican government is not already known by the reader. To grasp the full meaning of this section, prior knowledge of the period and subject will prove helpful, and the source list given by Jones in the book is thorough and gives some good ideas on where to find such information.
The final chapters are divided between different subjects changed or effected by the rule of Augustus, such as military, finance, religion, social policy etc. These chapters are well written in skillful brevity and give a valuable allotment of insight into the true importance of Augustus' rule and into Roman life at the end of the republic and beginning of the principate. The true value of this book is realized only in these final chapters, for it is in these that Jones skill as an interpretive and analytical historian take root. The earlier chapters feature less such masterful history, but they do give a thorough though dry overview of a major subject. Thankfully these last chapters make up for this and make the title a brief and valuable option for anyone looking interested in Roman or governmental history.

Rating:
Summary: Hyper-Boredom is the Result of Reading this Book
Review: I am an absolute fanatic for history, particularly of the ancient and medieval time period. However, there are some books that, however interesting the subject COULD be, simply squeeze all the juice and sparkle out of history. This is one of them. It is bland, tedious, a maze of dry facts and endlessly reiterated names, which leaves you scarcely the wiser about what Augustus did, except for the summarizing paragraphs. I have seldom encountered a book so dreadful, boring, and impossible to read. If you love history, do not, I repeat, do not, waste your time trying to read this grey and flavorless droning.

Rating:
Summary: He found Rome a city of brick and left it marble
Review: Jones does a good job of painting a portrait of Augustus from Julius Caesar's death to Augustus's own death. What Jones reveals is that Augustus was a wise ruler who tried to conceal his absolute power by putting on the trappings of a Republic, a man who prevented people from worshipping him while he was alive to prevent resentment from the nobles. Jones also shows how Augustus played a part in the great boom of literature and art during his reign (Livy, Horace, Virgil, and Ovid all lived during Augustus's reign). Although his cautious nature prevented him from being a great military leader like his adoptive father, he nonetheless ended many civil wars that plagued the empire before his arrival.