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Rome: A History in Seven Sackings

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Rome: A History in Seven Sackings

By: Matthew Kneale
Narrated by: Neil Gardner
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About this listen

No city on earth has preserved its past as has Rome. Visitors stand on bridges that were crossed by Julius Caesar and Cicero, walk around temples visited by Roman emperors, and step into churches that have hardly changed since popes celebrated mass in them 16 centuries ago.

These architectural survivals are all the more remarkable considering the violent disasters that have struck the city. Afflicted by earthquakes, floods, fires and plagues, it has most of all been repeatedly ravaged by roving armies.

Rome: A History in Seven Sackings examines the most important of these attacks and reveals, with fascinating insight, how they transformed the city - and not always for the worse. From the Gauls to the Nazis, Kneale vividly recounts those threatening the city while drawing an intense and vibrant portrait of the city and its inhabitants, both before and after being attacked.

In these troubled times when our cities can seem fragile, Rome's history offers a picture that is both shocking and also reassuring. Like the Neapolitans from Norman Lewis' Naples '44, Romans have repeatedly shrugged off catastrophes and made their city anew.

A meticulously researched, magical and novel blend of travelogue, social and cultural history, Rome: A History in Seven Sackings is part celebration of the fierce courage, panache and vitality of the Roman people and part passionate love letter to Rome. This is a popular history of the famous, incomparable city like no other.

©2017 Matthew Kneale (P)2017 Audible, Ltd Ancient Europe Italy Military Rome Middle Ages Ancient Rome Suspenseful Imperialism Natural Disaster Latin American Africa Crusade
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An ingenious way of giving 23 centuries of Roman history in a concise and fascinating way. The narration conveys the story of Rome in an engaging manner. All together an excellent audio book.

Fantastic

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Fascinating history, very well written. The narrator is enthusiastic and engaging - but reads Italian words by turns as if they were either French or Spanish. For anyone with even a passing knowledge of Italian, this is really distracting. When doing an audiobook set in Italy and stuffed with Italian names, surely the producers have a responsibility to find someone who actually knows how to pronounce them - and the narrator also has a responsibility to find out how they are pronounced rather than just blatantly guessing. Disappointing.

Great story, well told - shame about the Italian!

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An enjoyable read about the Eternal City in some of its darkest times. The author’s style is concise but entertaining, while the narrator handles things adeptly. However, he does stumble over the Italian wording here and there. For example, his pronunciation of ‘Trastevere’ set my teeth on edge a little. But this is minor quibble.

Of the sackings, there were occasions where I was amazed how lightly Rome got off compared with other cities in similar eras. On other occasions, particularly when Imperial forces sacked the city after its fall in 1527, the hell Rome citizens went through was simply appalling. Some of the history I had not encountered before and will enjoy reading-up on further.

The author’s handling of the two modern occupations, particularly his exploration of the German occupation from 43-44, was thought-provoking, especially the relationship Romans had with fascism - largely content when things went right, angered and confused when things fell apart. It’s here, perhaps, that one encounters the work's weakest point: some important events are skirted over and the question of culpability for fascism among the Romans is often left hanging.

A final positive point was the author's ability to link the previous sacks of Rome to the one under discussion, and to assess the history leading up to the point at which the city is taken over. All of this is done with broad strokes but without losing detail. Overall, an excellent audiobook and one for any fan of Rome or those with an interest in general history.

Excellent popular history

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Very cleverly, Matthew Kneale chooses seven key moments as windows into Rome's history. The approach works and you get a real sense of Rome's story in a short book. The audio narration has some slightly teeth-tingling pronunciation of Italian names but otherwise is engaging and well paced.

Fascinating and brilliantly structured

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thoroughly enjoyed this book, the history of Rome has always been fascinating to me, this book talks about events I didn't even know about

amazing book

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