Book review: Mary Beard’s SPQR is an impressive scholarly monument but one that’s a little hard to get into
The British academic’s wide-ranging and groundbreaking history of the grandeur that was Rome leaves Ben Richardson feeling a little underwhelmed
Mary Beard
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In one of the many glowing critiques of Mary Beard’s SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome that have been published since your humble reviewer received his copy in the post, The Economist describes the book as “exemplary popular history, engaging but never dumbed down”.
I had two reasons for breaking my rule never to read what others have written before reviewing a book myself. First, this latest offering from the prolific professor of Classics at Cambridge University left me torn over which side of the “stocking filler” divide it should fall on. A quick survey of writers and publications whose opinions I value showed almost universal acclaim for Beard’s wit, academic rigour, accessible writing style, grand sweep, exquisite attention to detail and a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach. She had packed a groundbreaking, thought-provoking social and political history of the first 1,000 or so years of the Roman Empire into a natty 600 or so pages. Breathtaking.