45. The Empire Stops here: A Journey along the Frontiers of the Roman World by Philip ParkerI meant to read this when it came out, forgot about it, and then stumbled across it in the library recently ( Read more... )

12. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary BeardI have very little interest in ancient Rome itself but a lot of interest in matters around the periphery (both temporally and spatially), and my knowledge of the core history of the Roman Empire was probably 20 years out of date, so when this came out I decided that a one-volume history for the ( Read more... )