Gwyn Morgan (1)

Dense reading, but Morgan's scholarship is impressive. This book sheds more light on this very obscure part of history than I would have thought possible.Well written with a surprisingly fast pace given the subject, but still seems to be very thorough. Turns out it was a very momentous time for the western world.

Good narrative history, but the important analytical framework is relegated to the appendices. A little too much ODTAA, but a solid account. I would have preferred a shorter narrative with more closely reasoned arguments

After Nero's suicide in 68 AD, four governours of military provinces succesively made a bid for the Purple, leading to the first major civil war after a century of internal peace during the reign of the Julio-Claudians. This book is a very detailed account and an insightful narrative history of a violent period in Roman history. It draws heavily on Tacitus, but does not neglect other sources, like Suetonius or Flavius Josephus. Anyone with a deeper interest in Roman history will enjoy this book.

69 A.D. is a history of the Roman Empire during the succession crisis that followed the suicide of Emperor Nero. The author composes his history based on an analysis of the various surviving ancient sources, with a particular emphasis on Tacitus. There is substantial discussion of these literary sources in addition to the narrative of the military campaigns of these civil wars and the brief successive reigns of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius. This work is not for those unfamiliar with the period.