A Dark History: The Roman Emperors from Julius Caesar to the Fall of Rome

Michael Kerrigan's "A dark history: The Roman Emperors" is an-easy-to-read history of the Roman emperors. As the title implies, it focuses on the frequent decadence, ocassional ineptitude of, and the palace intrigue surrounding, the Roman emperors. There is no historical analysis as such, it is simply as recitation of the good, the bad, and the ugly of Roman emperors, thier wives/ mothers/lovers, and their often treasonous "friends". Only very ocassionally, does the re-telling of the palace intrigue, decadence, and betrayls that was Imperial Rome become repetitive. There are also interesting side-bars about this or that aspect of Imperial Rome, as well as many interesting captioned color photographs. The captions to the photogrpahs are particularly well written, not just here is a "photograph of such and such" but a brief summary of why "such and such" is important. Sometime the sidebars and photographs take a whole page, giving the book a dramatic touch --- very appropriate for a book about Imperial Rome. All in all, an entertaining and sometimes informative work, but fair warning, Kerrigan doesn't hold back on the decadence of the ancient Rome. Some of the emperiors engaged in truly disgusting behavior.