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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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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 never thought I would encounter a history book that I found boring but ....here you have it. A previous reviewer states that the narrator may as well have been reading the phone book and I concur with this assessment. It is not really the narrator's fault as the "story" about existence in Roman Britain is presented in a one-fact-after-another style that leaves her with little room for developing listener engagement. If you want to know what this book is like then imagine a Bettany Hughes TV series, where Bettany Hughes and her narrative have been replaced with a robot who reads aloud factual sentences that have been written by an accountant.

Bland delivery of one fact after another

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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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