11-25-2003, 01:53 PM
This is the latest book from Adrian Goldsworthy, who I'm beginning to think is really several guys writing as one, given the quantity of 'his' output! I at first found the title 'The Complete Roman Army' somewhat overly ambitious, until I realized that the book was the seventh of a series 'The Complete.....etc, etc'. At any rate, this volume really is a fairly 'complete' survey of the Roman Army, although a serious student of the subject will have seen all the material therein somewhere else by now. The author presents a brief history of the institution along with a wee bit on the navy, and then concentrates in the main on the early Principate. He does, however, wind up the book with several pages on the Late Army.<br>
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Among many others, the author briefly discusses such disparate items as rank structure, diet, religious practices, burial arrangements, battle formations and encampments, and in general attempts to cover as wide a number of subjects as is possible in one medium-sized book. Folks interested only in actual warfare might be somewhat disappointed as he only devotes some twenty-odd pages to this in particular, but overall he gives an excellent 'feel' for what life as a Roman soldier would likely have been like.<br>
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The book is really an attractive, quality product; it has very good production values, is well laid-out, and is highly illustrated with photos, diagrams, drawings, maps, battle plans and tables. As I said before, the specialist probably is not going to find anything he hasn't seen before, but he is not going to be insulted with poorly-presented misinformation either. Certainly, a generalist will be delighted with it; at $23.97 (from Amazon) it is a great buy.<br>
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Among many others, the author briefly discusses such disparate items as rank structure, diet, religious practices, burial arrangements, battle formations and encampments, and in general attempts to cover as wide a number of subjects as is possible in one medium-sized book. Folks interested only in actual warfare might be somewhat disappointed as he only devotes some twenty-odd pages to this in particular, but overall he gives an excellent 'feel' for what life as a Roman soldier would likely have been like.<br>
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The book is really an attractive, quality product; it has very good production values, is well laid-out, and is highly illustrated with photos, diagrams, drawings, maps, battle plans and tables. As I said before, the specialist probably is not going to find anything he hasn't seen before, but he is not going to be insulted with poorly-presented misinformation either. Certainly, a generalist will be delighted with it; at $23.97 (from Amazon) it is a great buy.<br>
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