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A review by tourmaline1703
A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women by Emma Southon
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This is a brilliant and entertaining non-fiction book that recentres key events of Roman history on women, highlighting previously unheard stories. The footnotes provide helpful background to certain names or events, whilst any complex ancient systems like Roman money are explained in detail so that any reader can pick this up and understand the key context. This really helped to flesh out my knowledge of different periods of ancient Rome's history as well as how Rome impacted different countries and kingdoms.
Emma Southon is a fantastic writer, providing comedic yet insightful thoughts on the topics she discusses and the women she analyses. The writing is easy to follow, flows well and keeps you interested; what more can you ask for? Sometimes non-fiction books can be quite heavy or wordy but this is the perfect level of writing for a light read whilst still informing you in depth about different women's lives.
The book I found to be well paced and I liked how the book was structured; different parts to represent different ruling systems in Rome, with an individual chapter for each woman or a mother/daughter pairing. Each chapter kept you invested and intrigued, flowing well into each other. When the later chapters referenced earlier chapters, it created a complete sense to the book as you could begin to reflect and compare how the lives of women changed.
I adored reading this book and it is one of my favourite reads of the year so far. I have found so many more historical figures and areas of ancient history that I am interested in, and I cannot wait to learn even more.
Emma Southon is a fantastic writer, providing comedic yet insightful thoughts on the topics she discusses and the women she analyses. The writing is easy to follow, flows well and keeps you interested; what more can you ask for? Sometimes non-fiction books can be quite heavy or wordy but this is the perfect level of writing for a light read whilst still informing you in depth about different women's lives.
The book I found to be well paced and I liked how the book was structured; different parts to represent different ruling systems in Rome, with an individual chapter for each woman or a mother/daughter pairing. Each chapter kept you invested and intrigued, flowing well into each other. When the later chapters referenced earlier chapters, it created a complete sense to the book as you could begin to reflect and compare how the lives of women changed.
I adored reading this book and it is one of my favourite reads of the year so far. I have found so many more historical figures and areas of ancient history that I am interested in, and I cannot wait to learn even more.