Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum

Accompanying the British Museum's current blockbuster exhibition, this is a beautifully produced catalogue, featuring over 250 objects from the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum. A picture of daily life in these ancient towns is built up room by room, with the text providing a detailed description of the typical activities for which they were used, backed up with illustrations and discussion both of the rooms themselves and of their material culture. An opening section covers the public spaces of the towns and their civic life, whilst the book is rounded off with a look at their destruction.