Augustus — Adrian Goldsworthy

Goldsworthy's biography of Rome's first emperor asks how Augustus managed to succeed where Caesar had failed — how he translated military dominance into permanent political authority without triggering the resistance that destroyed his adoptive father. The answer is largely one of patience, caution, and political intelligence: the willingness to let others believe they had preserved the republic while systematically dismantling it. The book is alert to the gap between Augustus's public presentation and his actual methods, and to the scale of the violence — two decades of civil war — that underpinned the Augustan peace.

'The definitive modern life of Augustus. Goldsworthy combines exhaustive research with a writer's eye for the telling detail.' — Tom Holland