Book Reviews
Elizabeth I: A Study in Insecurity
Elizabeth I is one of England’s most recognisable monarchs.
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, Simon Schama
Schama’s beautifully descriptive prose follows the causes and course of the French Revolution from the 1770s to the fall of Robespierre, drawing from disciplines across the historical spectrum. The thrust of his argument is simple: the Revolution did not constitute a step forward; it delayed progress and consumed everything – including liberty – in its path.
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Peter Frankopan's The Silk Roads provides a new economic perspective on world history, taking as its centre not Europe, but the 'true middle of the world', 'the halfway point between east and west, running broadly from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea to the Himalayas'. In so doing, it provides 'a major reassessment of world history', by firmly taking the action away from the West and placing it, as Frankopan would argue, back in its proper place: the crossroads of civilisations.
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
Mary Beard has set herself a huge task in writing SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. Her aims are to cover Rome's first thousand years, from 'a tiny and very unremarkable little village' to an empire that ruled from Britain to Egypt. In telling the story, she asks not just 'why' Rome was so successful, but also what impact it had on its citizens, from emperors down to slaves, how they thought about themselves and their place in the world, and why their story still matters to us.
