The Romans

“Here is the Roman story across two millennia, from the mists of the Iron Age to the medieval crusades. Sweeping and masterful, The Romans balances the themes of continuity and change, grand forces and individual characters. I’m often asked what one book on ancient Rome I would recommend—and now I have a new answer.”

“Ed Watts tells the remarkable story of how Roman traditions of openness and flexibility allowed it to adjust and readjust to ever-changing circumstances over two millennia. Clearly written and well-informed, The Romans puts readers into direct contact with the voices of the Roman people over time, and will become a classic in its own right.”

“Ed Watts’s wonderfully readable and totally radical history asks us to see Rome as two millennia of Romans saw it—a highly flexible reference point, an argument for radical inclusion, and a set of enduring, if constantly reshaped, principles.”

“Lucid and accessible, The Romans is simply a splendid book that only Edward Watts could have written. He shows that Rome’s march did not lead exclusively toward the Western Middle Ages. Rather, the book’s magisterial sweep reveals Rome’s immense resilience was thanks to its continuing embrace of foreigners, immigrants, the enslaved, and the poor, to whom it offered advancement and a future, and to its nimble administrative and economic structures. A fantastic, timely book.”