Dynasty - by Tom Holland (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A "startlingly visceral" (The New York Times) portrait of Rome's first imperial dynasty, from Augustus to Nero--by the acclaimed author of Rubicon and co-host of the hit podcast The Rest Is History

"Holland is a master of narrative history. On the strength of Dynasty, he deserves a laurel wreath." --The Washington Post

In Dynasty, Tom Holland traces the astonishing century-long story of the rise and fall of the Julio-Claudians--Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. Capturing both the brilliant allure of their rule and the blood-steeped shadows cast by their crimes, Dynasty travels from the great capital rebuilt in marble to the dank and barbarian forests of Germany.

Populated by a spectacular cast--murderers, adulterers, Druids, scheming grandmothers, reluctant gladiators--it vividly recreates the world of Rome after Julius Caesar. A tale of rule and ruination, Dynasty is the story of a family that transformed and stupefied the western world and that continues to cast a mesmerizing spell across the millennia.

Review Quotes

"Startlingly visceral.... Holland has crafted a history of early Rome that has all the gripping detail and narrative momentum of a novel." --The New York Times

"Holland is a master of narrative history. On the strength of Dynasty, he deserves a laurel wreath." --The Washington Post

"Dynasty surely secures [Holland's] place among the foremost writers of popular history practicing today.... His ability to operate at small and large scale simultaneously . . . is one of his great talents." --The Wall Street Journal

"Fascinating.... [Dynasty] has Holland's usual novelistic ability to bring a narrative alive, together with his extraordinary command of ancient sources." --Matt Ridley, The New York Times Book Review

"[A] rollicking account of the Julio-Claudians.... A meditation on the enduring power and possibilities of storytelling." --Financial Times

"Excellent.... Engrossing.... [Holland] is a witty and skillful storyteller, capable of penning penetrating psychological portraits of the monsters who form his subject." --New Statesman

"Gripping." --The New York Review of Books

"A richly panoramic picture of Rome in the first century AD, dwelling on its manners and morals.... Holland writes about [his subjects] with great verve and insight." --The Literary Review

"Among the many virtues of Tom Holland's terrific history is that he does not shrink from seeing the Roman emperors for what they were.... He knits the history of ancient Rome into his narrative--its founding myths, the fall of the republic, the religious superstitions--with a skill so dextrous you don't notice the stitching. Dynasty is both a formidable effort to compile what we can know about the ancient world and a sensational story." --The Observer (England)

"A swaggering history of the dynastic house that Julius Caesar built." --Sunday Express

"Holland's masterly account of this first wicked century of the Roman empire is, at its heart, a political analysis.... It is down to his skill as a storyteller that there's no difficulty in imagining that it might all happen again tomorrow." -- The Sunday Times (London)

"Thrilling.... [A] fast-paced historical narrative." --Evening Standard

"Brilliant, terrifying and compelling." --Alex Preston, The Observer (England)

"A wonderful, surging narrative--a brilliant and meticulous synthesis of the ancient sources.... This is a story that should be read by anyone interested in history, politics or human nature--and it has never been better told." --The Mail on Sunday

"Impressive.... First-rate ancient history and a compulsively good read.... This is history in which fact and fiction overlap, rigorously researched and lightened with dashes of humour." --Daily Mail

"A vivid account." --Kirkus Reviews

"A lurid, ripping yarn, peopled by characters whose propensity for self-indulgence, cruelty and sheer tyrannical excess has not lost its ability to shock." --Sydney Morning Herald

About the Author

Tom Holland is a historian of the ancient world and a translator. His books include Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic, Persian Fire, In the Shadow of the Sword, The Forge of Christendom, and Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House of Caesar. He has adapted Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Virgil for the BBC. He is a winner of the Classical Association prize, awarded to "the individual who has done most to promote the study of the language, literature and civilization of Ancient Greece and Rome." He lives in London with his family.