Spectacle Entertainments of Early Imperial Rome

This book is some sweet Roman history action. Beacham cleverly presents ideas that are thought provoking and presented in a readable fashion. One of my favorite examples of this is how he describes Nero as a tragic actor in the play of his own life. The book is chuck full of interesting info like that, all of course related to the interesting theme of Roman Spectacle. This well thought out and engaging read would make a fine addition to anyone's Roman history library.

This is a superb book. Well-informed, dealing with fascinating material, and handled with a deft (but never heavy-handed) scholarly understanding.The spectacles of the Roman world have an uncanny similarity to much modern propaganda and advertsing techniques, as well as, of course, contemporary political practices. There is no other comprehensive book on this important subject, and Beacham brings it to life, magnificently. It really is a wonderful book, informative and also highly entertaining.

Beacham provides an excellent narrative regarding the relationship between spectacle entertainment (e.g., chariot races, theatre, gladiator shows) and the reigns of several of Rome's most famous emperors, including Julius Caesar, Caligula, and Nero. I thought that the way he traced the simultaneous evoultion of the Roman Empire and its spectacle entertainment was fascinating, especially given the way our culture today embraces various types of spectacles. My main complaint of the book is that Beacham does not synthesize the material into some type of detailed conclusion. He presents the information in basically an emperor by emperor format, without really integrating the material as a whole. A final chapter that accomplished this task would have been a welcome addition. I also urge readers who have no prior knowledge of Roman history to not read this book (at least as their first exposure to the topic), as he seems to assume that the reader has some knowlege. All in all, though, I found the work to be informative and enjoyable to read.