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Today's responsible parents strive to raise children with healthy egos. But for a lot of adults, the word "ego" carries the negative connotation of "narcissism." Traditionally, the "good" child learned self-control, self-denial and placed parental needs and wishes first. If those needs were abusive to the child, there was no choice but to block the hurtful behavior in order to hold onto adults who were loved and needed. Miller recognized the link between certain emotional problems in adulthood and repressed childhood anguish. Her ideas in this pioneering study are a must-read for anyone seeking truth about the roots of suffering in childhood.
Customer Reviews:
Profound insights ..........2007-04-10
Prisoners of Childhood: the Drama of the Gifted Child and the Search for the True Self (hardcover) is one of the earliest writings of Alice Miller available in English translation. Her insights are quite profound, and her perspective is unique in self-help, popular, and psychoanalytic works. She explores the psychological adaptations that children choose in order to preserve the love of their parents, which they so desperately need in order to survive. Indeed, she argues, the cost of such adaptations is the loss of the true self - the child, who clings to idea of parental love, loses the ability to know itself, its needs, its feelings and its desires. There is hope, however. When that child emerges from its first family into the world, the true self begins to assert itself - and these assertions manifest in the form of depression, and grandiosity (to name a few). This book inspires individuals to connect to their true self's assertions - and to use these messages, in a meaningful way, to inspire a true connection with itself. In all, her message is that the self does not die; it longs for a listening and attentive ear to discover and honor it.
Frustrating But Extremely Valuable.......2006-10-06
It is unsurprising that Alice Miller's Drama of the Gifted Child has met with a certain amount of hostility from both the psychiatry and psychotherapy establishments. After all, she frowns both on the use of drugs and cognitive-behavioral techniques as treatments for anxiety--especially in children. She even suggests that those who would use such remedies may have unaddressed psychological problems of their own. What's worse, she appeals to no empirical studies (double-blind or not) in reaching these conclusions; in fact, a reader might be reluctant to conclude from this book that Miller would even be capable of assessing the value of a careful scientific study of this or that anti-anxiety treatment. So, as I've indicated above, this book is often very frustrating. But Miller's work is also quite valuable, at least in my opinion. Like Freud's contemporary Wilhelm Stekel, Miller may not be a systematic theoretician, but her extensive clinical experience has provided her with several important insights that I believe may be useful, particularly to parents of anxious children.
I suppose it's fairly obvious by now that there can be many causes of anxiety. Legitimate dangers, sleep deprivation, repressed thoughts or desires, negative reinforcements coincident with pleasurable activities, isolation, and lots of other things can factor into fearfulness. Similarly, we now know that various drugs, meditation techniques, cognitive "re-learning," and gradual desensitization can all help combat these feelings, at least sometimes. It's often forgotten, though, that there are other, simpler techniques that people often use, knowingly or unknowingly, to calm themselves or others down. They may turn on the TV, take a walk, call a friend or even have some ice cream. Perhaps the most common palliative used by parents to allay their children's anxieties is one that comes very naturally. We hug them, sit them on our laps, tell them we love them to pieces, and so on. Most parents don't need to be taught these techniques: we come by them almost biologically. It is interesting to note, however, that this most basic of anti-anxiety medicines is, to a certain extent, inconsistent with all the others because it indicates complete acceptance of the sufferers' current condition. While desensitization, meditation and the rest suggest a certain level of dissatisfaction with the anxious individual, at least in his/her present state, the concentrated care provided by the simple comfort-giver is pure and unconditional. It says "I love you, and I'm fine with you no matter what." There's no rush to distract, improve matters, make things different. Furthermore, Miller suggests that many of those advocating other means to improved mental health are themselves frantic: in the case of stressed parents, it may be that their children are spooking them because they're unable to deal with their own unresolved anxieties. And this may be a result of the fact that their own parents didn't manage things quite right when they were kids.
While Miller's book isn't specifically a how-to book for parents, but rather a general primer on the importance of looking into one's own childhood for clues to one's current psychological make-up, I believe there are important lessons for parents here. Her position seems to imply that when a `gifted' (i.e. sensitive) child is frightened, perhaps won't go to school, is afraid of the dark, or can't be alone, rushing in with `cures' may just make things worse. The results of such attempted interventions will be familiar to many parents: "You know that you have to go to school." "But I can't go to school, my head hurts too much!" "What do you think is so horrible about school anyways?" "I don't know!" "Well, you must not be breathing correctly or you'd feel better." "I CAN'T!" Etc. Miller's work suggests the merits of an alternative approach: that of acceptance--not only of the child, but even of the condition itself. What she has noticed in her adult patients (and herself) is that where that sort of unconditional acceptance was lacking in childhood, the life of the grown-up is likely to have been difficult, or worse. A feeling of dissatisfaction, incompetance and unhappiness may have haunted the adult.
What will be amazing to some (and, surprisingly, what Miller doesn't really go into in her book) is how nicely this apparently basic lesson works for both kinds and their parents during the child-rearing years. A number of our friends, (some, like me, freaked out pseudo-therapists themselves) have discovered along with us that in many cases, if we will do no more than sit quietly with a troubled child, making no attempts to distract her, guide her meditations, help her breathe, convince her of the harmlessness of the feared item, or otherwise re-tool, within minutes, everything will be fine. Not only our children, but we too have to "let it be." If we can just look our kids in the eye, tell them how much we love them, and wait out these storms with them, we'll be amazed how unlikely they are to actually fall to pieces. In any event, Miller illustrates quite scarily that if we can't do this, we're failing in basic parenthood, and our children will suffer as adults. For what it's worth, this has been an important lesson for me. In spite of her anecdotal approach, I believe Alice Miller is on to something that not only will be helpful for many unhappy individuals, but that many parents desperately need to learn.
Beware.......2005-10-29
If you are like me: if you have a LOT of emotional baggage, and have only begun to scratch the surface of the damage done to your fragile psyche in early childhood, please take seriously this warning.
Approach this book with extreme caution. It will change your life, and not necessarily for the better.
It's a poor analogy, but in a sense it is not too much of a distortion to compare this book to shock treatment. Yes, it has a dramatic effect. But the effect is not always beneficial. And the risks are great.
(For any in the mental-health profession who may be reading: yes, I am aware that "electroconvulsive therapy" is the euphemism currently in vogue. I believe ECT is a brutal means of social control, and a form of torture. But I digress.)
This book concerns issues you might want to approach in a more gradual manner. Consider testing the waters before you dive right in.
I was in the midst of a depressive episode (not an uncommon occurrence for me) when I began reading Prisoners of Childhood.
Immediately, Miller's ideas took me by the throat and shook, hard. I began, frantically, using a highlighter pen to mark passages which seemed particularly relevant to my life.
It may be worth noting that I am both a reader and an avid book collector, and under most circumstances, to mar the pages of a book in any way--but especially by scrawling on its pages--strikes me as an act akin to sacrilege.
By the time I put the book down, my pen was nearly out of ink, and a quick flip through the pages revealed huge swaths of yellow.
I was unable to finish reading the book. Despite the fact that I was regularly seeing a therapist--who was helping me to wrestle with many of the same themes raised by Miller's book--I feared that continuing to read Prisoners of Childhood was increasing my isolation, and pushing me further along the path I was already treading, one which leads to: suicide.
What I write is, for the most part, not intended to criticize Miller. Her ideas are brilliant. She is influential, and rightfully so.
But remember: she is not infallible. She herself is as human as the subjects described in her book.
The emotional support of my parents is important to me. That support is limited and conditional: something which the book helped me realize, though to a greater degree than I was ready to learn.
However, their support being one of very few available to me, I would be foolish to throw it away.
After I began reading the book, I felt I was becoming paranoid. Every word and action of my parents seemed malevolent.
Perhaps that is precisely the point. Perhaps Miller is trying to help someone like me come to understand that I would be better off cutting all ties with my parents.
That is a sacrifice I am not willing to make.
Now that I am in a better frame of mind, I hope I can make use of what I learned. To regard my family with more realism and less denial.
But I also understand, now, that my parents were desperately trying to save my life, and--at a crucial time--I was pushing them away.
I give Prisoners of Childhood four stars because it is revelatory in a dramatic and visceral way.
One star subtracted because Miller is a zealot. An opinion formed only partly due to the content of this book. More so because of public statements she has made, long after the book was written.
Good parents really do exist. Not everyone is a victim of early trauma. Some people are perfectly capable of remembering their lives at an early age. Despite our constant revision of memories--particularly in light of later knowledge and experience--many early childhood events are perfectly knowable: even without using intensive therapy to gain access to the memories. Not everyone who accuses their parents of terrible abuse should be believed immediately and without regard for the actual circumstances.
Having read some of Miller's recent opinions, I would guess that she would vehemently disagree with everything I wrote in the preceding paragraph.
Miller was a primary force in the birth of a now-pervasive ideology which asserts that ALL parents--deliberately or not--cause great injury to their children, recapitulating the worst aspects of their own upbringing.
In many ways, she is correct.
The problem is that it IS an ideology. And in the realm of ideologies, any dissent is treasonous.
Psychology is a science. To forbid dissent is to abandon science in favor of demanding unwavering acceptance of proclamations by an elite.
I am not saying my parents were perfect. Far from it.
But I do not believe I am better off without them.
Thankfully, I no longer believe they would be better off without me.
I would recommend NOT reading this book, unless you are quite certain of your emotional stability. This is equally true even if you are a well-educated member of Miller's field.
The core of much suffering.......2005-08-08
A book which goes straight to the essence of much of today's suffering...narcisistic disturbances as not one amongst many disturbances, but the one underlying them all.It is a book for everyone, and most especially for young parents, as the newborn child makes us live again all our unresolved stuff. This book should be recommended as educational material as it enlightens parents to choose not to repeat their own stories with their children. Excellent.
A Wise & Perceptive Book About Children of Narcissistic Parents........2005-07-28
Alice Miller's "Prisoners Of Childhood; The Drama Of The Gifted Child," was originally published in 1981. A later revised and updated edition, "The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self" is now available with a new Foreward by Dr. Miller. I read this book over 20 years ago, and recently reread it. I find that it is just as relevant, wise and perceptive today as it was then. Dr. Miller was a practicing psychoanalyst, who gave up her work with patients to write books, for the layperson, primarily dealing with early childhood abuse. In her Forward, Miller continues to disavow psychoanalysis. Although I am not in agreement with her on this, she continues to be one of my heroes.
Dr. Miller, who writes an elegant and easily understandable prose, discusses here the issue of children raised by a narcissistic parent(s). She explains that this book is not about high I.Q. children, but about those who were able to survive an abusive childhood because they developed an adequate defense system. At a very early age the child intuitively apprehends the parent's needs. Since the parent, especially the mother, is the child's soul source of survival, the child strives to please, fearing disapproval, or abandonment. Thus, the child sublimates his needs for the parent's. Roles reverse and the child frequently takes on the parent's responsibility as emotional caregiver. This impedes the growth of a child's true identity, and a "loss of self" frequently occurs. The child adapts by not "feeling" his own needs, and develops finely tuned antennae, focusing intensely on the needs of the all important other. Ms. Miller writes, "An abused child, (emotionally), does not know it is being abused, and in order to survive and avoid the unbearable pain, the mind is provided with a remarkable mechanism, the 'gift' of 'repression,' which stores these experiences in a place outside of consciousness." Although, later in life, these "prohibited" feelings and needs cannot always be avoided, they remain split off and the most vital part of the true self is not integrated into the personality. The results are often depression, and tremendous insecurity.
Alice Miller makes her readers aware of the unexpressed sufferings of the child and the tragedy of the parent(s) own illness. As she frequently states, "any parent who abuses a child," knowingly or otherwise, "has himself been severely traumatized in his childhood, in some form or another."
Gifted children are often the products of emotional abuse by a narcissistic parent. However, if the child's great need for admiration is not met, for his/her looks, intelligence or achievements, he/she falls into severe depression. Miller says one can only be free from depression "when self-esteem is based on the authenticity of one's own feelings and not on the possession of certain qualities."
Children need a great deal of both emotional and physical support from the adult. According to Miller, this adult support must include the following elements in order for a child to develop to his or her full potential: "Respect for the child; respect for his rights; tolerance for his feelings; willingness to learn from his behavior."
Miller also writes about the "origins of grandiosity as a form of denial and its relationship with depression." Another interesting chapter deals with the "process of parental derision" and how it results in humiliation and possible psychic trauma of the child.
Alice Miller's extraordinary book, along with consistent psychoanalytic psychotherapy, enabled me to understand my past, modify behavior, forgive, and finally, best of all, to heal. I cannot recommend "Prisoners of Childhood: The Drama Of The Gifted Child" highly enough.
JANA
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- A Fascinating Tale of Discovery
- Moving Target - A Memoir of Pursuit
- chronicle of a military family
- I couldn't put "Moving Target" down for even a moment
- Remembering Our POW's
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Moving Target: A Memoir of Pursuit
Ron Arias
Manufacturer: Bilingual Review Press.
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ASIN: 1931010188 |
Customer Reviews:
A Fascinating Tale of Discovery.......2004-06-08
Moving Target succeeds in transforming what could be a pedestrian topic into a fascinating tale of discovery. Ron Arias manages masterfully to make the reader a committed member of the author's family and his relentless quest to uncover the truth.
Arias accomplishes this considerable feat with an effective approach composed of painful candor, suspense and clean, compelling writing.
Moving Target - A Memoir of Pursuit.......2003-10-13
Moving Target was one of the best books I have read ever. It was a moving story of a family and the hunt for a father they knew or didn't know. I was jealous of the young mother, wishing she had been mine. Later on I was glad she wasn't! Her death was an enigma. Her writings were truly unbelievable and know that's where Ron got his talent for writing. I read this book several months ago and it took this time for me to write. It is tragically moving, poetic with an uncanny melodic verbage. The quest to find this father again took Ron to many places, winding up in of all places, California. The perseverance to not quit gave this reader a gut-wrenching mystery that kept me riveted to my seat. Once you start you cannot put it down. I will read this book again. I hope Ron continues to write as he haa a talent that needs shared with the world!
chronicle of a military family.......2003-05-31
Moving Target, by Ron Arias, is the story of an American family, but not your typical next-door-neighbor kind of family. This is the story of a military family from the perspective of a sensitive, intelligent boy. While fellow army-brats will nod their heads in recognition as they read this memoir, most civilians would be astonished by the impact war and the warrior culture of discipline and rootlessness can have on a marriage and family.
Once begun,this book is not easy to put down. It is a chronicle written in a clear, accessible style, and often reads like a mystery novel. It takes a trip through recent history, putting personal faces on the Korean Conflict and the Cold war. As the writer matures and explores his father's military career and his mother's aspirations and marriage, many questions emerge. I felt compelled to follow Mr. Arias on his search to find the "real" man who shaped his life. Both his parents are brought fully to life, and as a bonus, Mr. Arias shares his adventures as a journalist. It is a courageous, heartbreaking, intimate life story that I will not soon forget.
I couldn't put "Moving Target" down for even a moment.......2003-05-17
I made the mistake of starting to read "Moving Target" before going to bed one evening; at 3 am I was still unable to put this book down. It's the memoir of Ron Arias, a staff correspondent for People Magazine. It starts out as a biography of Arias' parents. His father, Armando, is being held as a POW in Korea. His mother holds the family together until Armando's return. But this happy event is soon overshadowed by many troubles; Armando is being discredited by the Army, his promotion to captain is delayed (is it because he's Hispanic?) And he's a changed man, brooding, a strict disciplinarian but now with an edge since his return from near-starvation and survival of a Korean POW camp. Ron and his brothers find the household tense and troubling after Armando returns.
And there are more mysteries. Why does Ron's mother refuse to take communion at Sunday Mass? There is truth to be uncovered here, and Arias takes us on a young man's journey to find himself and his family.
The memoir also shows us Arias' development as a writer, from a chance encounter with Hemingway in Pamplona, to a course in English literature in Argentina from a Professor Borges (yes, Jorge Luis Borges.) And in Argentina, Ron begins a career as a journalist. We follow Ron through a stint in Peru as a Peace Corps volunteer and watch how a young and talented journalist develops. But the story of his family and his identity is an equally compelling thread.
This is probably one of the best memoirs I've read in years. The writing is crisp, the description of everyday details sharp and focused. Arias has the ability to go back and look out of the eyes of innocence and ignorance-we follow him along in the book as if we all were sent back in time in his life. If you liked "The Color of Water" or "Angela's Ashes" this book will resonate with you. You really should read it. I promise you won't be disappointed.
Remembering Our POW's.......2003-04-17
The author has captured the depth and spirit that keeps our POW's alive, knowing that we cannot forget them and the sacrifice that they have made for us. It does not matter if they are held three weeks or three years, we must keep them in our hearts, minds, and prayers. This book should be required reading by the Military and their families, and those that are quick to find fault with the men and women in uniform. I came away from each chapter as a member of the family and their ordeal after the war. We must remember that the families are just as much POW's!
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Childhood in Prison
Pyotr Yakir
Manufacturer: Macmillan
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ASIN: 0333137868 |
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formerly called "Prisoners of Childhood."
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Gyuszika: Promises Kept: A Story of Survival Set in War-Torn Hungary
Julius Tomsits
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
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ASIN: 0759628351 |
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Gyuszika's biography carries a documented true story. The bond between the mother and son enables Julius' survival from the horror of combat, the austerery of 46 months Russian imprisonment, thern a tragic escape to the "free world."
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Soldier's Son (Willie Morris Book in Memoir and Biography)
Ben W. McClelland
Manufacturer: University Press of Mississippi
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The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition
ASIN: 1578066255 |
Book Description
In December 1944 First Lieutenant Ewing R. "Pete" McClelland was captured in the Battle of the Bulge. Soon afterwards in an Allied air attack on the German POW camp where he was held, he was killed.
Back home in Pennsylvania, his young widow and three small children survived him. Too young to have lasting recollections, Ben McClelland, the soldier's son who was just beyond infancy, became one of the war's fatherless innocents for whom the memories of others would form the paternal image.
As the boy evolved into manhood, he reflected on how strange it was to grow up without this parent. In this narrative, a work of analysis as well as an odyssey into family heritage, the son undertakes a compelling search to find this man he could not remember. Through sentiment and nostalgia he depicts the innocence of childhood and recalls the many people who furnished impressions of his father.
Old photographs, intimate letters, and interviews with the memory keepers and the storytellers in his extended family were resources from which the author recreated a time and a place and a person. This reconstruction resurrects a father vital in life and passion, a man chronicled in humorous family tales, realized among vivid small-town characters, and seen against the contrast of social changes of the1960s.
The search for his father consumed most of a lifetime. As Ben McClelland was approaching the age of sixty, he had recovered this lost, never-before-realized identity. But to complete the circle of his quest, he undertook one thing more, the emotional pilgrimage to his father's grave in Europe.
Although many other memoirs detail the experience of the soldier on the fronts of battle, this one brings an understanding of his sacrifice in wartime, of the resounding meaning of his death for his country and for his family, and of a son's profound yearning for answers that fulfill.
Customer Reviews:
Firm grasp on the complexities of Pompey.......2005-11-14
Seager's Pompey is an excellent book that is a necessity for anyone wanting to fully understand the political career of Pompey Magnus. Over the years, countless books have been written on Caesar and the fall of the Republic, and I find it interesting that very few (at least very few in English) book have been written on the life of Pompey.
Seager's book does a fantastic job of explaining how Pompey was able to rise to power through the use of the army and his military victories. An interesting point that Seager makes about Pompey's rise is that since Pompey skipped many of the offices that most Romans needed to obtain before becoming consul he did not have the political acumen of others in his position. This explanation does much for enlightening the reader as to why Pompey made some decisions (which in hindsight) which damaged his reputation within the Republic.
Another interesting point that Seager makes in his book is that he believes that Cicero may have exaggerated the threat of Catiline to galvanize the Republic against the return of Pompey. After all Sulla's return from the east was still fresh in many Romans' minds (the proscriptions had effected most of the patrician families in one way or another) and since Pompey had been a lieutenant of Sulla there was speculation that he too would make a grab at supreme power over the Republic.
Seager has produced a thorough biography of Pompey's life in this book and it should be read by those interested in the complexities of Pompey and the late Roman Republic. However, be aware that Pompey's military exploits are glossed over in this book and Seager's primary focus is on Pompey's political career.
An incredibly detailed look at a fascinating man and era.......2005-09-17
The story of the rise and fall of Pompey is the story of the fall of the Roman Republic and its eventual rebirth as an Imperial empire. Both coincide with each other with ones gains coming at the expense of the other. However, Pompey did not initiate the events that began the Republics downward spiral. Rather he helped hasten them to their inevitable conclusion. And so begins Robin Seager's historical biography on Pompey.
Seager begins first at the events that set in motion the decline of the Republic and the rise of Pompey (and others sharing the same limitless ambitions) by discussing the popular reforms attempted by the Gracchi brothers to return land to the landless. Over the years, war service and an influx of slaves through military conquests had led to many Romans losing their farm lands and losing the ability to work in the agricultural sector. On top of this, once Romans lost their land, they no longer qualified for military service and thus the state lost a soldier. The reforms attempted to correct this reality by providing recently conquered land to the landless. The Senate, greatly opposing this as it would affect them financially, ensured that the reforms failed. This event marked the growing conflict between the Senate and the Tribunes (who directly represented the peoples interest, theoretically) over control of the Republic. An event that sparked bitter rivalries between equites (a sort of merchant class who were wealthy but until recently stayed out of politics) who demanded recognition and respect from the Senate and the aristocrats who believed it was their innate right to govern through exclusion.
Seager continues to set the stage for Pompey's entrance by discussing his father (Pompeius Strabo) and Sulla, both of whom had strong influences on Pompey. They reinforced the value of loyal troops and the value of maintaining multiple connections in the Senate, something Pompey would never forget (although he wasn't very skilful in the latter leading to problems later on). Over time, as Pompey built a reputation for himself, he won numerous accolades from the Senate on his victories in Spain, his successful war against the Mediterranean pirates and his accomplishments in the East against Mithradates. He also shrewdly took credit for the defeat of Spartacus even though he arrived too late for the final battle. With these victories he expected to be no less then worshipped by the people and the Senate. However, the reality proved different. Being humiliated and shunned, as the Senate wanted to ensure Pompey understood his rightful place in the Republic's hierarchy (he was from a relatively young wealthy family and thus did not have the long-established family history other Senators had); Pompey allied himself with another brash rising star, Caesar. All these events, as Seager discussed, amplified the decay of the Republic's core foundations. Rather then upholding the Republics values (regardless of how suspect and imaginative they were), these men began placing their importance and prestige first. With this change in focus, it would only be a matter of time when the Republic would be torn apart into rival factions vying for its crown. Seager brilliantly brings all these events to light. He covers every step of the deterioration through the life of Pompey who had an integral part in ushering in this new era. From his first salute to Sulla as imperator to his final stand in Greece, Seager, in a comprehensive narrative, outlines Pompey's many decisions, the reasoning behind them and their eventual consequences to himself and the Republic.
Although I strongly recommend this book (6 stars if it existed), a prospective reader needs to keep a few things in mind before purchasing this book. The books, at-many-times, excessive details does have its failings mainly being that the book can at times drag on. Add in Seager's obsession with including every Consul's name (many which are similar to others via familial relationships) and you can easily have one chaotic and confusing mess. I should know as I threw down this book in frustration on my first attempt at a read-through. This book needs to be read careful paying attention to the fine detail Seager adds in as most of it ties into later parts of his book. Doing this rewards the reader with an essential and absorbing look at the later Republics political life with all its rewards and treachery. As well, Seager's primary focus is on Pompey's political achievements and failures with a nod towards his campaigns, hence the books subtitle: A Political Biography. As you can probably tell at this point, this is a scholarly work with its main focus being on providing and critiquing information and sources rather then providing a quick and exciting narrative (see Tom Holland's excellent book, Rubicon: the Last Years of the Roman Republic for that).
If one wants a simple narrative of Pompey's actual military campaigns, this book is not the source. If one however wants a better understanding of all the characters directly involved in the downfall of the Republic including its main protagonists, Pompey, then I strongly recommend this book. Thank you Mr. Seager for providing us with an exceptional work. If you do end up liking this book, I would strongly recommend Seager's other work, Tiberius, as well.
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- The 2007 Import and Export Market for Herbicides, Weed Killers, Antisprouting Products, and Plant-Growth Regulators for Retail Sale in Argentina
- The Accounting Game : Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand
Books Index
Books Home
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