This book takes us through the life, and it is a life rather than a history of the times. The author deliberately downplays incidents where Caesar was not directly involved, however interesting they may be for other reasons.

Goldsworthy carefully explains what we know and what we don't know, and also commendably tries to avoid reading later history back into the early stages of Caesar's life and career. Goldsworthy's earlier books have been on military history and it shows. My eyes tend to glaze over at descriptions of battles and campaigns, but nevertheless this book kept me reading and is well worth reading for anyone who is at all interested in Julius Caesar. ( )

A highly recommended biography of Caesar. Goldsworthy does an excellent job of fitting a life of Caesar into one book. He clearly spells out what is and isn't known about the subject, and provides a reasoned view. ( )

Probably the most engaging biography I've read. Goldsworthy's colossus of a book is tightly focused on its subject, but still gives a better picture of the end of the Roman Republic than the much more pop-history "Rubicon." As one would expect from the author of "The Punic Wars," "Roman Warfare" and "The Complete Roman Army", Goldsworthy thoroughly explores and explicates Caesar the General; but he also gives a complete and balanced picture of Caesar the politician as well. By doing so, he shows how war and politics were two sides of the same coin in the Late Republic - indeed, war in Rome was simply politics by other means (Cicero's greatest weakness as a Roman politician was undoubtedly his lack of military skill).

One of the greatest strengths of this book is how it manages to put Caesar into his time and place - nobody in 30 B.C. knew that Caesar would become the figure we think of him as now, and so there was nothing fore-ordained or inevitable about his rise and fall. Goldsworthy is also careful to highlight where sources are contradictory, unclear, or inadequate - something that lends a historian more authority in my eyes than bald assertions could ever do. By drawing attention to these uncertainties, Goldsworthy illuminates a clearer understanding of Caesar and his times for the reader. ( )

Adrian Goldsworthy has been a recent favorite of mine, and his latest effort, a biography of Julius Caesar manages to exceed his already formidable standards. In contrast to many biographies, Goldworthy really attempts - successfully I might add - to place his subject into the context of his times and does so by expanding on many of the events that took place during the decades before Caesar's birth and during his childhood as political violence became more and more common within the Roman Republic following the Gracchi brothers and then the events surrounding Sulla. In charting the career of Caesar, Goldsworthy manages to weave these issues into the narrative while also adding the idea of constant competition between individuals in the Senate for positions and prestige. Inevitably this leads to the events before and during the Civil War and ultimately the assassination of Caesar.

Throughout Goldsworthy makes no secret that many of the sources are unclear or otherwise incapable of giving us a thorough explanation of many events within Caesar's life, but the author does manage to promote some well reasoned ideas though frequently noting that we can't really know everything that we might want to know - and this is especially prevalent when it comes to what Caesar planned to do in the two years before he was assassinated.

Still, throughout a wonderful biography. ( )

Some of the battles are described nearly as well as, say ap bac in "A Bright Shining Lie" Superb book from all angles, social, military, and historical. Brings one back to High School and translating "Caesar's Gallic Wars". I'm buying one for my son's latin teacher.