Books like Ancient Rome by Robert Payne

A collection of extraordinary decisions that shape history and provide insight into the process of making difficult choices.

Fergus M. Bordewich uncovers the forgotten history of Washington, D.C., revealing how the nation’s capital emerged from swampy terrain, slave labor, and speculative corruption into the world’s power center.

A harrowing first‑hand chronicle of 1914 when Russian navigator Valerian Albanov and thirteen crewers abandoned the icebound Saint Anna to trek across the Kara Sea in search of safety, surviving blizzards, starvation and mutiny.

A magisterial history of the titanic struggle between the Roman and Jewish worlds that led to the destruction of Jerusalem.Martin Goodman--equally renowned in Jewish and in Roman studies--examines this conflict, its causes, and its consequences with unprecedented authority and thoroughness. He delineates the incompatibility between the cultural, political, and religious beliefs and practices of the two peoples and explains how Rome's interests were served by a policy of brutality against the Jews. At the same time, Christians began to distance themselves from their origins, becoming increasingly hostile toward Jews as Christian influence spread within the empire. This is the authoritative work of how these two great civilizations collided and how the reverberations are felt to this day.From the Trade Paperback edition.

A scholarly biography of Livia, wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius, exploring her political influence, personal relationships, and enduring legacy in early Roman history.