I listened to Barry Strauss on a history podcast and wanted to read this book. History for me is contingency constrained by geography grabbed by the right leader. Or screwed up by the wrong leader.
The story of the Battle of Actium is a huge victory for Octavian and his brilliant admiral Agrippa against Marc Antony and Cleopatra. On paper the power couple of the Roman Empire had every advantage. Yet Antony and Cleopatra were defeated, keeping the center of Roman power in Rome in the hands of Octavian and the emperors who followed for almost half a millennia.
Strauss explains the lack of direct sources to document the battle then uses what sources he has to show Antony's mistakes and how Agrippa took advantage of every weakness in Antony's plans.
This is a book for a history of Rome fan. It is superbly documented and as a History of Rome nerd, I found it delightful.
First 21 books of 2022:
Civil Rights Baby by Nita Wiggins
Lecture's on Kant's Political Philosophy by Hannah Arendt
Le grec ancien facile par Marie-Dominique Poree
The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen
Perelandra by C.S. Lewis
The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay
First Principles by Thomas Ricks
Political Tribes by Amy Chua
Book of Mercy by Leonard Cohen
A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters by Andrew Knoll
Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall
Understanding Beliefs by Nils Nilsson
1776 by David McCullough
The Life of the Mind by Hannah Arendt
Civilization: The West and the Rest by Niall Ferguson
How to Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss
Unflattening by Nick Sousanis
Marie Curie by Agnieszka Biskup (en francais)
The Next Civil War by Stephen Marche
Fritz Haber, Volume 1 by David Vandermeulen
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