This alone makes this book worth reading. Given how long ago the events in this book took place Mr Goldsworthy has done an excellent job of telling the reader when events are speculative and presenting not only what he believes to be the correct re-telling of what happened but also presenting other views and the reasons he believes the ones he specifies are the correct interpretations. From that point I found the book hard to put down and more informative than any other book I have read on either this period in Rome's history or on Caesar's life. The book does pick up as Caesar enters politics and becomes truly interesting and informative when Caesar goes on campaign in Spain. Given that, Caesar is no better than most as a description of Julius Caesar's early life. Some people's early lives are interesting but most, like Caesar's, are generally bland and undocumented and the book ends up trying to fill space with no real information about the person and only speculation about the world in which he or she lived. They cover a person's entire life but, since that person generally does not do much worth recording until he or she becomes an adult, the part covering their childhood tends to be both boring and uninformative.
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