An unconventional but captivating, multifaceted study of the Roman Empire.
This debut “documentary novel” chronicles the first 100 years of the Roman Empire.
Steck’s detailed book opens with a brief explanation of Rome’s shift from republic to empire and rapidly moves toward discussing the reign of its first emperors, Augustus and Tiberius. The study charts the arc of the turbulent first century C.E., ending with the rise to power of Trajan, a “popular young general,” who would rule from 98 to 117. The century is punctuated by murder, deception, and intrigue and boasts a formidable cast, from Jesus to Emperor Nero. Careful to leave no stone unturned, the author scrupulously examines the new empire’s class system, geographic scope, wars, politics, and religion. Described as a work of “nonfiction with an overlay of speculation, story-telling and fictional elements,” Steck’s documentary novel uses imagination when factual evidence is lacking. Such a statement has the potential to set academic alarm bells ringing, but the author is always transparent when employing fictional embellishments in the narrative. For example, he draws a detailed sketch of Marcus Scaevus Ascanius, the owner of a pottery factory in Pompeii. Ascanius had a wealthy patron, “always made ends meet,” and was “as close to being ‘middle class’ as the empire could manifest.” The author clearly explains that the man’s “imaginary,” but the portrait is successful as it elucidates the daily life of a Roman free citizen. Steck’s narration of factual material is equally engaging and accessible. When describing a young Nero, he writes: “He was by temperament an artist, a writer and would-be singer and would-be actor, a youth who liked fast chariots and fast, none-too-refined company.” There is a breezy contemporaneity to the author’s narrative approach that breathes new life and vigor into Roman history. Furthermore, this is a well-researched volume that includes maps, charts of the great families, and an extensive bibliography. It is unusual that a history book skips along at the pace of a thriller, but that is certainly the case here; such is Steck’s refreshing approach.
An unconventional but captivating, multifaceted study of the Roman Empire.Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5255-2904-7
Page Count: 300
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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