Holland, Tom: Rubicon

'I owe a debt of gratitude to Tom Holland not just for reminding me of the great figures who bestrode the Roman world - Pompey and Crassus, Cato, Cicero and Caesar - but for explaining what it was that made Rome the greatest superpower the world has known, why it lasted so long and what caused its eventual fall' Daily Mail 'A modern, well-paced and finely observed history which entertains as it informs' Observer 'The bloodstained drama of the last decades of the Roman republic... is told afresh with tremendous wit, narrative verve and insight' Independent on Sunday 'Gripping and hugely e ntertaining. It is a story crammed with drama and spectacle... but the real attraction of Holland's book is the wit and contemporary sensibility that he brings to his often bloody tale' Books of the Year, Sunday Times [Pax PB cover, Dynasty reissue cover]