Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

S.P.Q.R.: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard

6 reviews

aseel_reads's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

2.0

Unfortunately, this audio experience was not good. I kept zoning out, for the life of me, I could not understand how the book was set up, like what was the approach to history, I know it was mentioned, but it just slips my mind. Which is a shame, I know more about ancient Greece and I would like to know a bit about ancient Rome, but I can't say I know more after a 17 hour book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Rape and Sexism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Slavery, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

erebus53's review against another edition

3.25

I book that I picked up for book club, it was certainly informative. Perhaps not as much information on the roles of women in Roman society as I would have hoped for, but plenty of wry humour. I was surprised about how much of what I knew about Roman culture came from reading Asterix, and how close to the mark some of it was.

The book does really start to drag at about the 65% mark, and ridiculous things like being "adopted" by a person who has been dead for a decode so as to cement authority is one of the dafter things I have heard of in a while.

One of the most saddening quotes that resonated with me was : 

What all would have agreed, both rich and poor, was that to be rich was a desirable state, that poverty was to be avoided if you possibly could. Just as the ambition of Roman slaves was usually to gain freedom for themselves, not to abolish slavery as an institution, so the ambitions of the poor were not radically to reconfigure the social order but to find a place for themselves nearer the top of the hierarchy of wealth. 

If you ever think that looking back at history is not exactly relevant to modern day then you aren't looking hard enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lexcellent's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Murder

laurajeangrace's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Murder, and War

cg1256's review against another edition

funny informative slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, and War

dumaurier's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

3.5

A great intro to the history of ancient Rome. It's exactly what I was looking for, though it isn't anything more than that. Beard often jumps around in the timeline, recontextualizing leaders and stories, which is helpful in understanding their importance and distinguishing them from one another, but is confusing in the long run. I really appreciated how Beard analyzes common tall-tales and misconceptions attached to ancient Rome. It can get dense at times, but it's a worthy overview.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Violence, and War

Moderate: Rape