[on the early years of the new Caesar and the era of 44-29 BC, that is]
Thanks to our friend at Bread and circuses, who blogged an entry of A Don's Life titled How it really was? (in ancient Rome), I was pointed to a book review by P.T. Wiseman of three new publications.
Only one of these seems to be worth purchasing, Caesar's Legacy : Civil War and the Emergence of the Roman Empire by Josiah Osgood. Wiseman calls it "a historical work of real distinction". Wiseman does has one problem though – which I have always shared: "Submission to the convention [of calling the young Caesar 'Octavian'] is the one complaint I have about Caesar's Legacy, Josiah Osgood's superb account of the 'missing years' 43-29 bc: of all Caesar's legacies, that of his name was the most significant and the most lasting."
The above Amazon.com links offers part of Chapter 1 as preview. I'm looking forward to reading this tome (450pp., Cambridge University Press, February 2006, ISBN: 0521671779).
