Julius Caesar: Conqueror and Dictator

School Library Journal

Gr 6-8-No life could more clearly demonstrate that power corrupts than that of the Roman Emperor Nero. His excesses are well described, including his murder of his own mother, his plundering of the public treasury, and his implication in the murder or exile of enemies both real and imagined. The full-color illustrations are generally fine additions to a book that takes pains to portray the emperor in the context of his times. One map of the Roman Empire fails to include Britain, even though by Nero's day, it had at least partially been subdued and brought into the empire. Caesar's life is one of the more thoroughly documented of ancient times. While this book adds no new information, it is attractively packaged. Full-page color illustrations and (occasionally blurry) photos depict various aspects of Roman life during Republican times. However, the text devotes more space to the era that produced Caesar than to the man. His military career and tactics get the most attention in a chapter that covers the conquest of Gaul, but there is a decided lack of maps and diagrams to demonstrate battles and tactics. For a livelier and more personal but less comprehensive account, try Robert Green's Julius Caesar (Watts, 1996).-David Pauli, Hillsboro Public Library, OR Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.