Creating the Roman Empire: The Lives and Legacies of Julius Caesar and Augustus

I'm a roman history fan so perhaps it was a touch light weight for me. But certainly a great pacy introduction to this period. I enjoyed it whilst not actually learning much more than I already knew.

After reading several books about the Roman Empire, (for several read hundreds), this is so basic that it should be High School marked. It is not wrong in facts, just banal.

This is one of my favorite Charles River Histories. A lot of great information on both Julius and Augustus Caesar. If you are a fan of the late Roman Republic this details its end. This period is so fascinating to me because so many famous people shared the historical stage and competed for the highest stakes imaginable. This starts off detailing Julius's Early life and his struggle to survive Sulla's dictatorship. Of all historical figures Julius seems to me to be the most multi-talented. People idolized Alexander the Great for about 300 years, but every general really wanted to be Caesar until Napoleon. This history shows you why. While Augustus was clearly not the general Julius was he was terrific at politics and administration. Just the man needed to create an Empire that lasted more than twice as long as the U.S. has. The most fascinating thing about his part in this history was his battles with Mark Antony for supremacy. Throughout most of their struggles Mark Antony held the advantage, but with brains and persistence Augustus came out on top.

This booklet is a very brief overview of the lives of Caesar and Augustus. While most of the facts stated are correct, there are some errors. For example, Marcus Antonius did not find out that he was not Caesar's heir until the reading of the will after Caesar's death. However, this booklet states that the will was public knowledge well before Caesar's death. In addition, the booklet often repeats the same information. Please note, I don't mean that the same information is given in a somewhat different format; I mean it is literally repeated, word for word, in separate paragraphs.