Augustus Paperback - 2014

Media reviews

"Augustus is a masterpiece." -Los Angeles Times

"One is drawn deeply into a world whose complexity, luxury, political cynicism, public gullibility, and violence seem very much like our own." -The New Yorker

"Williams has immersed himself in ancient history, its figures, its conflicts, its complicated intrigues and its often primitive turmoil. In his vivid panorama, The Golden Age sparkles with an eloquence, at times, approaching the poetic." -The Plain Dealer

"Out of the events surrounding one of the pivotal moments in Western history . . . John Williams has fashioned an always engaging, psychologically convincing work of fiction." -The New York Times

"Augustus is a vividly imagined re-creation of classical Rome, but its intuitive grasp of the experience of immense power makes it an unusual, and superior, novel." -The Boston Globe

"Novel or history, this is an excellent book. . . . a superior work of the imagination." -Playboy

"It would be easy to over-praise this novel; but there does not seem any adequate reason why this temptation should be resisted, especially as Mr. Williams in his turn resists the obvious one of allowing irony too prominent a part in the proceedings." -The Economist

"A pleasure to read. . . . A most polished performance." -Boston Herald Traveler

"Strong and striking. . . . Intelligent and intuitive, this excellent historical novel makes the world of Ancient Rome a place in which we feel instantly at home." -Publishers Weekly

"A novel of extraordinary range, yet of extraordinary minuteness, that manages never to sacrifice one quality for the other." -The Financial Times