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A Brief History of Roman Britain

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A Brief History of Roman Britain

By: Joan P. Alcock
Narrated by: Lisa Coleman
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About this listen

The rise and fall of Roman Britain, how they lived and what they left behind...

In 55 B.C. Julius Caesar came, saw, conquered and then left. It was not until A.D. 43 that the Emperor Claudius crossed the channel and made Britain the western outpost of the Roman Empire that would span from the Scottish border to Persia. For the next 400 years the island would be transformed. Within that period would see the rise of Londinium, almost immediately burnt to the ground in A.D. 60 by Boudicca; Hadrian's Wall, which was constructed in A.D. 112 to keep the northern tribes at bay, as well as the birth of the Emperor Constantine in third century York. Interwoven with the historical narrative is a social history of the period showing how Roman society grew in Britain.

Joan Alcock is a fellow of the University of South London. She is also the author of A Social History of Roman Britain, as well as A Social History of Ancient Rome.

©2011 Joan P. Alcock (P)2012 Audible Ltd Ancient Europe Great Britain England Ancient History
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Great insights into all aspects of the Roman period in Britain . Intriguing details of everyday living , food , home decor , religion ,all covered in fluent style .

Superb collation of facts

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This was fascinating facts delivered in a way to cure the worst insomniac through monotonous delivery.

Interesting content made unbelievably boring.

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I’m very impressed regarding the level of information the author had crammed into this one book. I personally would have preferred the information spread a bit thinner and more emphasis on style and dare I say it, entertainment.

Informative but Dry

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I'm not sure who this book is aimed at. It has some interesting nuggets, but for the most part lacks detail, and for the whole part lacks any insight. Some terminology is deployed without definition, and it's safe to say that anyone who understands the terminology will already be more than familiar with the limited content of the book. On the other hand, anyone happy with such a brief overview of the subject is likely to be baffled by the terminology, and no one wants to listen to a glossary on an audiobook, even if it was included.
A bigger problem is the narration. The narrator deploys an almost robotic approach to word emphasis. It's unclear whether this is due to a lack of narration experience or a refusal to engage with the text. In any case, it's a dry, unpleasant listen. One particular error on word emphasis had me laughing out loud, so unintentionally hilarious was the way it diverged from the intended meaning into something scientifically impossible. To be fair, this error could be down to a missing hyphen in the script, but it was unintentionally entertaining, regardless.
There must be better books in this vein out there.

Not Great

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Overall this is very disappointing! It is a list of facts we were taught at school which are blandly listed to you. The narrator mangles and mispronounces both roman and modern names which make it a cringe fest from start to finish.

A list of basic school level facts, mispronounced!

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