Brian Caven
Auteur de The Punic Wars
A propos de l'auteur
Œuvres de Brian Caven
Dionysius I War-Lord of Sicily 1 exemplaire
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
Membres
Critiques
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 3
- Membres
- 134
- Popularité
- #151,727
- Évaluation
- 3.9
- Critiques
- 2
- ISBN
- 5
As far as the writing goes, this is an excellent history of the three Punic Wars, in which Rome first stopped Carthagian expansion, then curtailed the city of Carthage, then destroyed it. It is easy to understand, straightforward, and even exciting.
The question is, is it accurate? Our sources are extremely meagre -- we have nothing at all from the Carthaginian side, a few bits and pieces from Greek observers (notably Polybius), and some Roman records which are likely to be highly distorted. It isn't enough information (as author Caven himself admits), and what we have is thoroughly one-sided.
This forces historians to be very, very cautious. And Caven is not. He has no footnotes, and admits to a certain degree of hypothesizing -- let's face it, guessing. The guesses are reasonable; he puts together a coherent explanation of the Wars. As an introduction to the era, it is very good. But it may not be the last word.… (plus d'informations)