Graham Webster (1913–2001)

On the face of it this would appear quite a dry, academic approach to the subject but the cover is deceptive - actually the whole book is written in such an engaging style I finished it in one day. There is enough background detail I would think for new readers but also plenty of interesting tid-bits and insights for devotees. For example the passages on the legionary commanders, giving a brief who's who and biography for each, are great. My only criticism would be that by concluding the show more book with Claudius's triumph it seems to stop rather mid-air from a British perspective, but to be fair it is about the invasion, not the final conquest or the later mopping up, which appear to be dealt with in Webster's other books. Somewhat scantily illustrated, all in black and white, but decent for the period it was written in. show less

I bought this because I had recently read Imperial Governor and wanted to see how it compared with a serious history of the event. This includes the original sources in Tacitus as well as a secondary account.

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