A review by fetterov
Caesar: Life of a Colossus by Adrian Goldsworthy

5.0

A thorough and eminently readable biography of one of history’s most famous men. Goldsworthy does a fantastic job of telling the story of Caesar in the context of events in first century BC Rome. Every chapter taught me a ton about Caesar and the world in which he lived. Goldsworthy wrote in the context that events in Caesar’s life were not inevitable, which is a big plus for me. He was also unafraid to say when we simply do not know the truth about a historical event. At times the prose got a little clunky, and on a few occasions he fell into the biographer’s trap of being too sympathetic to his subject (though he did not shy away from saying explicitly when Caesar made a mistake or was defeated in battle). Despite these minor flaws, Goldsworthy has written a superb biography of Caesar that I would recommend to fans of history and the general reader looking for a nonfiction story that is just as gripping and dramatic as any acclaimed fiction novel.