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Antony and Cleopatra
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About the Author

Adrian Goldsworthy has a doctorate from Oxford University. His first book, The Roman Army at War was recognised by John Keegan, the general Editor of The History of Warfare, as an exceptionally impressive work, original in treatment and impressive in style. His other books include The Punic Wars, and the volume on Roman Warfare in John Keegan's Cassell History of Warfare series.

Reviews

'After providing a clear, succinct background to events, Goldsworthy's tactic is to weave the two stories into a single thread by moving seamlessly back and forth from Rome to Egypt. It works beautifully. His mastery of the sources is commendable, his historical judgement sure-footed and, as ever, he brings a winning lucidity to the description of often quite complex situations - the perfect accompaniment to any, especially Mediterranean, holiday' -- Peter Jones THE TABLET 'Goldsworth is excellent at tracing the often bewildering succession of Ptolemys and Cleopatras as they murder, marry and spawn one another. His talent for narrative is also showcased by the skill with which he handles the twin strands of his biography, coiling the lives of Antony and Cleopatra around one another, until finally they become fused' -- Tom Holland MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Goldsworthy has a more constructive approach to the absence of evidence. He puts Cleopatra back together with Mark Antony, about whom we know more, from a wider range of ancient writing. This gives him a good starting point for some even more ambitious debunking. he is excellent in puncturing the myths of Antony as a great Roman military tactician and an experienced soldier...He is also refreshingly frank about the unimportance of Cleopatra herself' -- Mary Beard FINANCIAL TIMES 'Readers who recognize Goldsworthy as Britain's most prolific and perhaps finest popular historian of Roman times will find him once again at his best...Unlike many competing authors, Goldsworthy never disguises the scanty evidence for many historical events. Some of his best passages review surviving documents, discuss their biases, draw parallels from his vast knowledge of Roman history, and recount what probably happened...in this thoughtful, deeply satisfying work' YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 'Goldsworthy tells this story of this dynasty with huge skill, successfully navigating the narratival rapids posed by the fact that almost every member of it was called Ptolemy, Cleopatra, or Arsinoe...In all, it is an exotic family story of incest, greed and assassination, whose collective impact is to prompt further surprise: that Cleopatra was not only beautiful but obviously smart. Why, after 250 years of sustained in-breeding, she didn't dribble and have six fingers is completely beyond me -- Peter Heather BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE 'He does a splendid job of putting their lives in context and forcefully reminding us of the most salient aspects of their story while dispersing the romantic fog that has clung to them' -- Christopher Silvester DAILY EXPRESS 'Mr Goldsworthy is a rising star on the historical scene' WASHINGTON TIMES 'Goldsworthy's strengths as a military historian are on full display' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT 'Above all Goldsworthy understand military matters' -- Anthony Everitt THE INDEPENDENT 'From the outset he makes the point that Cleopatra and Mark Antony were neither particularly likeable nor particularly successful...Yet together, as this well-written biography shows, the two failures have become more than a sum of their parts. They have been transformed into the world's most famous lovers' HISTORY TODAY 'Marc Antony, the soldier and strategist, and Cleopatra, the Greek queen of Egypt, could not have wanted for a more capable biographer' GOOD BOOK GUIDE

'After providing a clear, succinct background to events, Goldsworthy's tactic is to weave the two stories into a single thread by moving seamlessly back and forth from Rome to Egypt. It works beautifully. His mastery of the sources is commendable, his historical judgement sure-footed and, as ever, he brings a winning lucidity to the description of often quite complex situations - the perfect accompaniment to any, especially Mediterranean, holiday' -- Peter Jones THE TABLET 'Goldsworth is excellent at tracing the often bewildering succession of Ptolemys and Cleopatras as they murder, marry and spawn one another. His talent for narrative is also showcased by the skill with which he handles the twin strands of his biography, coiling the lives of Antony and Cleopatra around one another, until finally they become fused' -- Tom Holland MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Goldsworthy has a more constructive approach to the absence of evidence. He puts Cleopatra back together with Mark Antony, about whom we know more, from a wider range of ancient writing. This gives him a good starting point for some even more ambitious debunking. he is excellent in puncturing the myths of Antony as a great Roman military tactician and an experienced soldier...He is also refreshingly frank about the unimportance of Cleopatra herself' -- Mary Beard FINANCIAL TIMES 'Readers who recognize Goldsworthy as Britain's most prolific and perhaps finest popular historian of Roman times will find him once again at his best...Unlike many competing authors, Goldsworthy never disguises the scanty evidence for many historical events. Some of his best passages review surviving documents, discuss their biases, draw parallels from his vast knowledge of Roman history, and recount what probably happened...in this thoughtful, deeply satisfying work' YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 'Goldsworthy tells this story of this dynasty with huge skill, successfully navigating the narratival rapids posed by the fact that almost every member of it was called Ptolemy, Cleopatra, or Arsinoe...In all, it is an exotic family story of incest, greed and assassination, whose collective impact is to prompt further surprise: that Cleopatra was not only beautiful but obviously smart. Why, after 250 years of sustained in-breeding, she didn't dribble and have six fingers is completely beyond me -- Peter Heather BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE 'He does a splendid job of putting their lives in context and forcefully reminding us of the most salient aspects of their story while dispersing the romantic fog that has clung to them' -- Christopher Silvester DAILY EXPRESS 'Mr Goldsworthy is a rising star on the historical scene' WASHINGTON TIMES 'Goldsworthy's strengths as a military historian are on full display' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT 'Above all Goldsworthy understand military matters' -- Anthony Everitt THE INDEPENDENT 'From the outset he makes the point that Cleopatra and Mark Antony were neither particularly likeable nor particularly successful...Yet together, as this well-written biography shows, the two failures have become more than a sum of their parts. They have been transformed into the world's most famous lovers' HISTORY TODAY 'Marc Antony, the soldier and strategist, and Cleopatra, the Greek queen of Egypt, could not have wanted for a more capable biographer' GOOD BOOK GUIDE

Goldsworthy follows up his admirable life of Julius Caesar (Caesar: Life of a Colossus) with a joint biography of two of Caesar's proteges. The record shows that Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, and Mark Antony, the Roman triumvir, didn't meet till 41 B.C.E., well into their busy lives, when she was 28 and he 43, although some (this reviewer included) may suspect that they encountered each other earlier during Cleopatra's visits to Caesar in Rome. Both from elite, cosmopolitan families of the Mediterranean world, Antony and Cleopatra made an ill-fated alliance, political and romantic, against the forces of Caesar's heir Octavian/Augustus. Goldsworthy credits the eventual victory of the unsoldierly Octavian to his PR savvy and his general, Agrippa, who outclassed Antony as a military leader. VERDICT Because Goldsworthy must retell the history of the civil wars of the first century B.C.E., his book could easily be called Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra. With limited source material, he constructs a plausible portrait of two practical romantics whose storied love followed the path of political advantage. Unlike Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra, Goldsworthy's book is not packaged to attract readers of bodice rippers, but these two titles are probably more alike than different: good serious books, though not necessarily for scholars or specialists.-Stewart Desmond, New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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