A good, compact read - an "Imperial primer", if you will. The title "Roman Emperors" is a tad misleading - it does not cover ALL the emperors - but the selection it covers are all colourful and intriguing characters. The byline "with all the boring bits cut out" is very fitting, as the book also covers the daily life, social structures and culinary habits of early Imperial Rome.

Even I, as somewhat of a history buff, had not heard about Julius Caesar's stint as a priest of Jupiter - a post he was assigned to by his uncle by marriage, Marius, in order to keep his military talents in check (and maintain Marius' position of power).

Definitely worth a read if you come across it (and like ancient history). ( )

Short but innovate history! ( )

Scandalous and debauched lives, from Julius Caesar to Nero ( )

Salacious, scandalous, and vulgar: who wouldn't love reading about the private lives of the Emperors? With a nod to Suetonious Blond here collates the other rag sheet atrocities of the private Emperors. It makes for torrid but historically based reading.

A Scandalous History indeed. Anthony Blond takes us on a wild journey through the lives of six emperors of Rome (though it is argued whether Julius Caesar is counted as an emperor or just a dictator at the end of the Roman Republic.) during the Julio-Claudian dynasty. This spans Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. It tells of their near full history and relatively minor things like how they got their nicknames, such as Caligula means little-boots. In addition to the chapters on each emperor, there are chapters on many other subjects in the daily lives of Romans. It features things like Religion, Food and Sex. Anthony Blond has a bit of a difficult to follow style of writing. In my opinion, he seems to jump around a lot and I didn't always know what he was talking about at the moment. Overall though, he gives you relatively clear view of their lives. I really enjoyed the 'outside' chapters. It truly gives the reader an idea of what it was like to live in the early days of the Roman empire. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Food. Realizing they had quite the disgusting appetite, many of the spices tended toward the strong smelling (often of decay). This chapter was written by Anthony's wife. The final chapter of the book is a day in the life of a well-to-do citizen. It follows from when he awakes and sees his visitors, to his visit with the emperor Nero, the buying of a slave, recreation and finally an extravagant dinner with important guests.
The book is recommended, but I scored it lower than 4 because at times was indeed difficult to follow. Despite this, it is highly interesting. ( )