The Roads to Rome, Catherine Fletcher
The Roads to Rome, Catherine Fletcher
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The Roads to Rome
A History of Imperial Expansion

Author: Catherine Fletcher

Narrator: Catherine Fletcher

Unabridged: 13 hr 32 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 12/03/2024


Synopsis

"All roads lead to Rome" is a medieval proverb, but it's also true: today's European roads still follow the networks of the ancient empire—and these ancient roads continue to grip our imaginations as a physical manifestation of Rome's greatness.

Over the two thousand years since they were built, these roads have been walked by crusaders and pilgrims, liberators and dictators, but also by tourists and writers, refugees and artists. As channels of trade and travel—and routes for conquest and creativity—Catherine Fletcher reveals how these roads transformed the cultures, and intertwined the fates, of a vast panoply of people across Europe and beyond.

The Roads to Rome is a journey into a past that remains intimately connected to our present. Traveling from Scotland to Cádiz to Istanbul and back to Rome, the listener meanders through nations and empires that have risen and fallen. We encounter spies, bandits, innkeepers, a Byzantine noblewoman on the run, aristocrats on their Grand Tour, Napoleon, John Keats, the Shelleys, Frederick Douglass, and Mussolini.

Based on original research, this is the first narrative history to tell the full story of life on the roads that lead to Rome.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Fred on December 22, 2024

This is a hard book to classify. Part cultural history of ancient Roman roads through time, part travelogue, occasional rambles on historical tangents. There is a fair bit on Fletcher's personal travels as she did research for the book: travel conditions, hotels, what she ate, the cost of lunch, etc......more

Goodreads review by Stef on June 29, 2024

i love the vibe of this book, but the haphazard jumps between epochs in the various chapters make for a sometimes confusing reading experience. does put up some interesting questions. main takeaway being that roads, like any part of history, can and will be manipulated to suit a persons/state’s narr......more

Goodreads review by Jack on September 23, 2024

Really 4.5 I think. This took me ages to read, but that was partly because I was on holiday (when I read fewer books than when I'm not on holiday) for some of it and partly because I allowed myself to be interrupted by four (!) novels. This is an entertaining and fascinating canter through the history......more

Goodreads review by Anand on July 27, 2024

Disappointing. I received this book as a gift, and it reminded me why I avoid buying history books by academics. The author seems intent on packing every possible person, place, and road name into her descriptions, which makes for a plodding read. The most interesting parts are when she describes he......more

Goodreads review by Peter on March 18, 2025

The British Historian Catherine Fletcher wrote The Roads to Rome: A History of Imperial Expansion, a history of Ancient Rome and how people remember Ancient Rome’s Road. Fletcher writes, “Around 100,000 kilometers seems a fair estimate of many roads the Ancient Romans built. Certainly, the network e......more