What books would you like published?

[Crispvs]

I'd like a really decent book on Roman swords too. Obviously I'd like one on daggers too but as I'd quite like to write that one myself I won't ask for that just yet.

Crispvs

[sonic]

Philip, Father of Alexander (yes, I named my son after Alexander the Great)

Delusions of grandeur, eh Phil??

We called our son Owen, simply because we are (or were) both teachers and whenever one of us suggested a name, either the other simply didn't like it, or they had taught an obnoxious little so-and-so with that name.

As an aside, don't give your son the name Josh or Joshua, as more often than not they don't turn out to be very nice! (And I apologise in advance to anyone who is named Josh and is nice: generalisations don't always fit!!


Thanks for the suggestions about Sertorius, Q. Caelius Rufus and both Drusus's, Crispus

I'll have a look into them and see what can be done.

Still nobody Greek, though, is there??

______________________________

Ian (Sonic) Hughes

[Crispvs]

Try Epaminondas of Thebes

Crispvs

[Arahne]

Sonic,


As a publishing suggestion, no-one seems to have produced a comprehensive book on Roman forts recently. Given the recent discoveries in places like Xanten and Carlisle, there could be a market for a new and up to date book.

Crispvs

Duncan Campbell wrote a book about fortifications for Osprey.

[Roy]

As a budding writer, interested in focusing upon individual commanders in a 'biographical' format, which individuals would you like to see written about? Remember that we are looking at individuals whose stories could run to 70,000 words or more, so people such as Corbulo would be unlikely to feature, since there isn't enough known about them.

I was thinking possibly about Scipio Africanus, the man who beat Hannibal, as there doesn't seem to have been much written about him recently, but does anybody out there have any more ideas?

I don't mind how far back we go in History, or how far forward, at least until the 'reconquest' of Justinian/Belisarius. What I am thinking of is the people whose stories deserve to be told, but not the 'Big' names, such as Caesar, Hannibal etc., as they already have lots of books written about them.

Any ideas?

Ian (Sonic) Hughes

Have a look at In the Name of Rome: The Men who Won the Roman Empire by Adrian Goldsworthy.
About 500 pages, about Fabius, Marcellus, Scipio Africanus, Aemilius Paullus, Scipio Aemilianus, Gaius Marius, Sertorius, Pompey, Caesar, Germanicus, Corbulo, Titus, Trajan, Julian and Belisarius.

It's a very good read so far

[Crispvs]

As I wipe the egg off my face, I must hold my hand up and state that I have actually read 'In the Name of Rome' within the last year and had somehow forgotten that a chapter of it had been on Sertorius. :oops:

Crispvs

[D B Campbell]

Given the recent discoveries in places like Xanten ...

What discoveries did you have in mind, Crispvs?

[sonic]

As a budding writer, interested in focusing upon individual commanders in a 'biographical' format, which individuals would you like to see written about? Remember that we are looking at individuals whose stories could run to 70,000 words or more, so people such as Corbulo would be unlikely to feature, since there isn't enough known about them.

I was thinking possibly about Scipio Africanus, the man who beat Hannibal, as there doesn't seem to have been much written about him recently, but does anybody out there have any more ideas?

I don't mind how far back we go in History, or how far forward, at least until the 'reconquest' of Justinian/Belisarius. What I am thinking of is the people whose stories deserve to be told, but not the 'Big' names, such as Caesar, Hannibal etc., as they already have lots of books written about them.

Any ideas?

Ian (Sonic) Hughes

Have a look at In the Name of Rome: The Men who Won the Roman Empire by Adrian Goldsworthy.
About 500 pages, about Fabius, Marcellus, Scipio Africanus, Aemilius Paullus, Scipio Aemilianus, Gaius Marius, Sertorius, Pompey, Caesar, Germanicus, Corbulo, Titus, Trajan, Julian and Belisarius.

It's a very good read so far

It's a very good read throughout, but is there an individual in there that you would like to see more about? lol:

I think my biggest difficulty is that there are quite a few biographies that I would like to write, but I am looking for advice on a) how many of you would buy them, and b) if there is enough interest to make it commercially viable to publish any except for the big names like Caesar and Alexander.

As a student, I longed for books about the 'lesser known' but still important generals, such as those already mentioned in this thread, and now I want to write them!

At the moment, Scipio Africanus, Epaminondas and Sertorius sound interesting, and I'm currently looking into them. How many of you would buy them?? :?

To all those that have responded, many thanks. 8)

To the rest; are there any more ideas out there or is that about it??

_________________________________

Ian (Sonic) Hughes

[Roy]

Ah, got confused by "focusing upon individual commanders"
Thought you meant one book focussing on several commanders.


There are several books about Scipio Africanus already.
- Scipio Africanus, by Alexander Acimovic
- Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon, by B.H. Liddell Hart
Haven't read them though, so don't know if they're any good.

Found one about Sertorius too,
Quintus Sertorius and the Legacy of Sulla, by Philip O. Spann.
Looks like it's really hard to get though, there's only 1 used copy available at Amazon, for 318 pounds hock:

Just search on Amazon for the names of the generals, there're a lot more books about Roman generals than you'd expect :wink:

I think that biographies of most (all?) generals about whom enough is known already exist.

[sonic]

Ah, got confused by "focusing upon individual commanders"
Thought you meant one book focussing on several commanders.


There are several books about Scipio Africanus already.
- Scipio Africanus, by Alexander Acimovic
- Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon, by B.H. Liddell Hart
Haven't read them though, so don't know if they're any good.

Found one about Sertorius too,
Quintus Sertorius and the Legacy of Sulla, by Philip O. Spann.
Looks like it's really hard to get though, there's only 1 used copy available at Amazon, for 318 pounds hock:

Just search on Amazon for the names of the generals, there're a lot more books about Roman generals than you'd expect :wink:

I think that biographies of most (all?) generals about whom enough is known already exist.

The books about Scipio tend to be fairly old, and the one by B.H. Liddell Hart is little more than a panegyric, avoiding any possibility that Scipio ever made mistakes.

I think you've actually highlighted some of the problems with studying 'ancient' generals: until recently, the books have tended to be either pure flattery - as already mentioned - or very old, written in the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, or so expensive that the average reader (i.e. me) can't afford to buy them unless they come up on the lottery!

This is something I want to see addressed: why should somebody wanting to read about Sertorius have to shell out £318 or go to the library and borrow it? I want a book about Sertorius in my own collection on my own bookshelves!!

Or maybe I'm being greedy? :oops:

Anyway, thanks for all of the comments and suggestions. I will now go to my editor and grovel.......!

[JP Vieira]

Hello
One subject I was always interested was the incorporation of men (and their equipment, traditions, tactics, etc) in the victorious Roman army.
I know that sometimes all "units" of foreign warriors were incorporated in the army as auxiliaries; but to what degree would that units traded their equipment for Roman, or did they kept much of it?
I would like to see soldiers wearing a mixture of equipment both native and Roman.
When and were that this phenomenon occurred?
Best regards
JP Vieira

[Crispvs]

Duncan,

To be honest I don't know very much about recent finds from Xanten. My reference to it was based on a comment I heard at the Carlisle Millenium conference. When the principia (or the piece of it which had been excavated) was being described, it was noted that numerous gaming pieces had been found immediately in front of it, suggesting that soldiers may have gathered in front of the principia to gamble! Someone in the audience then commented with something like: 'That seems exactly what they recently found at Xanten', to which the speaker replied something like: 'Yes, in fact there are a number of common factors between the two and as we excavate more forts I think we may see more of this sort of thing'.

Of course, I may have remembered it completely wrongly but that is what gave rise to my mention of Xanten.

Crispvs

[philsidnell]

Sonic,


As a publishing suggestion, no-one seems to have produced a comprehensive book on Roman forts recently. Given the recent discoveries in places like Xanten and Carlisle, there could be a market for a new and up to date book.

Crispvs

Duncan Campbell wrote a book about fortifications for Osprey.

Which might still leave space for a full-length book examining Roman fortification - not just the actual forts, but the function and strategy behind the frontier defences, perhaps updating/modifying/rebutting Luttwak's theories.

[D B Campbell]

... updating/modifying/rebutting Luttwak's theories.

How very dare you!! :wink:

[philsidnell]

Hey no offence meant. :oops: I'm sure your book is great, but you know what I mean -you can't tell me you count c.25,000 words as a full-length book? I'm sure you could have written a lot more on the subject couldn't you?

Phil

p.s I've been meaning to PM you anyway, so look out for one from me sometime this afternoon.