skygiants: Hikaru from Ouran walking straight into Tamaki's hand (talk to the hand)
skygiants ([personal profile] skygiants) wrote2021-07-15 09:40 pm
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Recently I keep having conversations with people that go like this:

me: allow me to show off to you how much I know about the Roman Empire
interlocutor: yes good job you've named four emperors, congratulations
me: it's because I just recently read this book on murder in ancient Rome! the book was very interesting and asked thoughtful questions and contained a lot of useful information thoughtfully presented --
interlocutor: sounds great!
me: BUT, also, unfortunately, it's written entirely in BUCKLE UP TWITTER style --
interlocutor: ah.
me: but the information IS really good, I just wish the book would stop apologizing to me for giving it to me! I'M READING THIS BOOK BECAUSE I WANT INFORMATION! PLEASE STOP ASSUMING THAT I'M BORED BY THE INFORMATION I PICKED UP THE BOOK FOR!!!
interlocutor: I see this book left an impression.
me: yes. sorry. would you like another factoid about the Roman Empire.

The book is called A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (as many of you already know as I have seen many of you already post about this book in more or less exactly these terms, and of course you were all right.) It's a detailed, thorough examination that begins by asking the question of what kinds of killings actually count as murder, and whether you can call something a murder if it's only considered as damage to an individual rather than a crime against the state for which retribution is enacted by a state, which in many cases ancient Rome didn't -- which is an angle I would never have thought to consider and provides a really good lens for through which to examine Roman society as a whole. The author works her way down from the big famous Imperial murders through patricides, matricides and street crime down to the perfectly-socially-acceptable-in-Rome deaths of gladiators and slaves with specific examples and useful analysis and I really enjoyed reading it, except when I hit a phrase like this and wanted to throw the book across the room:

Before we get there we need to see how murder became so central to Roman politics, and I'm sorry but it involves a lot of politics and chat about land reform policies, and it's awful. We can get through this together; I believe in us.

STOP! STOP THAT!! JUST TELL ME ABOUT THE LAND REFORM! I PROMISE YOU I TRULY WANT TO KNOW!
lirazel: A vintage photograph of a young woman reading while sitting on top of a ladder in front of bookshelves ([books] world was hers for the reading)

[personal profile] lirazel 2021-07-16 03:17 pm (UTC)(link)
This is so interesting--I feel like the book I'm currently reading (Forget the Alamo) is doing a similar thing and it irritates me as well. While I hate the "buckle up tumblr" stuff (which is where I experience it, seeing as I do not do Twitter), I would have thought that a conversational-style history book would at least be an interesting thing to read. But alas. I just don't like it at all. I guess other people do, though? It's certainly got very good ratings. And I think the actual research of the book is good; I just wish it were in a different style.

Before we get there we need to see how murder became so central to Roman politics, and I'm sorry but it involves a lot of politics and chat about land reform policies, and it's awful. We can get through this together; I believe in us

GROSS I HATE THIS.
brainwane: My smiling face, including a small gold bindi (Default)

[personal profile] brainwane 2021-07-19 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
Would you like some recommendations? I presume yes but am checking in case.
lirazel: Jiang Yanli from The Untamed smiling ([tv] lotus blossom)

[personal profile] lirazel 2021-07-19 01:54 pm (UTC)(link)
You are so right!