Book Review [56] : Rubicon

I read 'Julius Caesar', a play of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) in my 11th standard (UP Board) and immediately i was bitten by the highly Republican character of Marcus Brutus, whom Mark Antony called "noblest man of them all" after his death in 42 BC. Rome was an eternal idea in the mind of humankind and its a really not a mean achievement that Roman Republic flourished for more than 500 years when everywhere Monarchy was the norm (except in NW and Eastern pockets of India). 

I have read a number of books (fiction/non-fiction both) on Roman History  but Tom Holland's book "Rubicon" stands in a different league. The way he introduces and builds the characters is a piece of Art and i was able to finish the book in less than 4 days and i never got bored. Its a story of the decline and destruction of the "Roman Republic" from the lethal  attack by Sulla (83-81 BC) to the ultimate destruction by Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Antony and Gaius Octavius within a span of 20 years (49 BC - 30 BC). The great Republic that was founded on the principles of freedom and balance of power was destroyed by the intrigues of powerful senators and ambitions of the Generals. 

Caesar and Pompey were great Generals but very bad Republicans, both of them were dictators and wanted to rule the Rome as virtual Emperors but both of them faced able adversaries in the form of Marcus Cato, Marcus Brutus, Cicero etc. Such was the fate of Rome that the great Republicans like Cicero, Brutus and Cato had to support haughty Pompey in order to save the Republic from almighty Caesar who had threatened the Republic by crossing the Rubicon river on 10th Jan, 49 BC. Caesar was able to defeat mighty Pompey in 48 BC at Pharsalus (Greece) and Cato in 46 BC and by 46 BC Caesar had become the dictator for 10 years (later extended to life time) of Rome. He was murdered by the Liberators led by Brutus, Cassius etc on Ides of March in 44 BC. This was last hope for Republic but his last hope was soon extinguished by the defeat of Liberators at Philippi (Macedonia) in 42 BC. The Republic was divided among Antony, Octavius and Lepidus and by 30 BC Octavius became the sole ruler of Rome after defeating the alliance of Antony and Cleopetra at Actium in 31 BC. Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide in 30 BC. This is a great book, the only issue with this book is that it has given less pages to the likes of Brutus and Antony and the last wars of the Republic. Because of this book, Cato has become one of my heroes.

Highly Recommended (9/10) 

Book Review [55] : A History of God

Karen Armstrong has a great name in 'theological works and history of religions', she has written good books on Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism and her treatment to all these religions appears very liberal and unbiased to a layman like me. Its a not a categorical denial that she is devoid of any prejudices or biases. 'A History Of God' is one of her classical works but being a Hindu i could not appreciate this work to a great extent because she did not write anything significant on oriental religions or Gods in this book so the comparison that i was looking for was not there in detail. 

A History of God is a well researched (with some embedded inaccuracy as well, like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was written as Pakistani in this book) work on the history of three great religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam, it also gives attention to a large number of theologians of these creeds, philosophers and scientists. The only problem with this work is that you need to know in advance the philosophies of Aristotle, Plato, Hegel, Pascal, Descartes, Nietzsche, Freud, Calvin, Luther, al-Ghazali, Voltaire, Kant, al-Kindi, ibn-Arabi, al-Wahab etc else you will not appreciate the essence of this book. I am deeply impressed by the Aristotle, ibn-Arabi, al-Ghazali, Voltaire and Freudian concept of God in western and semitic philosophy. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) says that Religion has already played its role in the development or evolution of mankind and now mankind has reached a stage of maturity its the time to kill the God and Religion. He further adds that every society has its own pace to reach to that mature stage and any attempt to accelerate that pace would be destructive. This can be seen in the case of Iran when Shah of Iran tried to impose western values the people revolted and became more conservative instead.

Overall its a good book and should be read to do an objective inquiry in the universe of religion.   

Recommended (7/10)