The Romans

Children's Literature - Beverly Kobrin

John and Louise James respectively show and tell How We Know About The Romans in a blend of narrative sprinkled with quotations from Roman writers and original art and photographs. They've produced an effective explanation of how historians and archaeologists recreate the past from the evidence at hand.

School Library Journal

Gr 3-5Entertaining and attractive, these overviews of the everyday lives of ancient Romans and Vikings discuss aspects of these cultures and how this knowledge was pieced together. Each topic is treated in a double-page spread. Colorful illustrations, full-color reproductions, and succinct, well-written texts provide basic facts. Also examined are artifacts; scientific tools and methods used by archaeologists; backgrounds on specific digs or sites; and the importance of written sourcesjournals, military records, church records, etc.that were used to reconstruct how these people lived. Much of the information is available in other sources, but the added emphasis on the contributions of archaeology offers a different slant. Hazel Martell's Everyday Life in Viking Times (1994) and Mike Corbishley's Everyday Life in Roman Times (1994, both Watts) cover similar ground and include some of the archaeological background. Martell's The Vikings and Jorvik (Dillon, 1993) concentrates on one archaeological site and what it contributed to the knowledge of Viking life.Cynthia M. Sturgis, Ledding Library, Milwaukee, OR