Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World

The real, fascinating story of the men who ruled one of the greatest powers of the ancient world

Mary Beard is a very talented academic and you would never know it from this book or others and I mean that as a compliment. Scholars, despite their depth of expertise on their topic, often fail to write in a way that engages anyone other than other scholars. Beard excels at taking her expertise in a time and place far from our own and sharing it in a way that is not only informative, but enjoyable and accessible.
We often think of history as dry recitations of dates and facts long before our own time, but Beard really cuts through the myth-making around these ancient rulers and shows them as best we can from the remove of 2000ish years.