“The Death of Caesar” by Barry Strauss – Moving the Gears of History

The world of politics is one where blood has flown freely for thousands of years, a ruthless world that cannot hide its true nature despite the appearances those involved in it are constantly trying to put on.

Though it is true that today certain countries can pride themselves in having political systems that are actually functioning as they are supposed to, we are still light years away of solving our problems with words and actual fairness.

Still, we have progressed tremendously since the days of Ancient Rome where cunning, deception and murder seemed to be ingrained parts of a politician's daily routine. In the end though, very few, if any at all, have felt the deadly sting of that world more than Caesar himself.

Though it is commonly believed that the plot to assassinate one of history's most revered leaders is one that spawned out of passion and was carried out with much spontaneity, Barry Strauss seeks to correct that erroneous view of events in The Death of Caesar, a largely factual narrative into the matter.

Basically, in this book Strauss lays out from A to Z the entire conspiracy that was slowly being built around Caesar by those he trusted most, how he was patiently subverted by those closest to him, and perhaps even more importantly, why it all played out the way it did.

Now, as you can imagine, The Death of Caesar is the kind of book where little is left up to the imagination, whether it be ours or the author's. The whole point of this work of writing is to deliver us a complete a story as possible on one of history's most important manners in an accessible way that can also provide entertainment, and perhaps even better, suck us into the events.

This isn't the kind of book you turn to if you're seeking something fast-paced that will have you wondering when the next inevitable twist is coming. It is a slow and methodical study of a moment in time when the gears of history were forced to turn by the hands of a few men.

With that being said, the prose is still descriptive in its own ways and at times does a rather good job of conveying the gravity and somberness of the events at hand.

With Barry Strauss being the exceptionally-well educated man he is in terms of history, you can imagine that this work of literature doesn't falter at all when inspected for factual fidelity and accuracy.

The details provided are all pertinent to establishing the complete picture of what occurred back in those days, and to be frank, chances are that there are few sources out there that will, on the whole, give you a better education on the subject than this book, especially without putting you to sleep in the process.

All things considered, history buffs who want to learn in as much depth as possible about the brutal demise of one of the more fascinating people to have existed on this planet would unquestionably benefit from reading this book; it is a true gold mine of information, but one that should only be tapped by the more patient miners.

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Barry Strauss Personal site Barry Strauss is an American professor of history at Cornell university whose specialization lies in ancient military history, a subject to which he has already dedicated a large number of books, such as The Trojan War and The Battle of Salamis. He holds a B.A. From Cornell as well as Ph.D from Yale, in addition to which he was awarded a number of fellowships, including ones from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and the National Endowment for the Humanities.