Caligula

The Mad Emperor of Rome

By: Stephen Dando-Collins

Narrated by: James Anderson Foster

Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Explore all of the murder, madness and mayhem in Ancient Rome during the reign of the mad emperor, Caligula.

In this book about Rome’s most infamous emperor, expert author, Stephen Dando-Collins chronicles all the palace intrigues and murders that led to Caligula becoming emperor, and details the horrors of his manic reign and the murderous consequences brought about at the hand of his sister Agrippina the Younger, his uncle Claudius and his nephew Nero.

Skillfully researched, Dando-Collins puts the jigsaw pieces together to form an accurate picture of Caligula’s life and influences. Dando-Collins’ precise and thorough examination of the emperor’s life puts Caligula’s paranoid reign into perspective, examining the betrayals and deaths he experienced prior to his time in power and the onset of a near-fatal illness believed to have affected his mental-health.

©2019 Stephen Dando-Collins (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

The end

It is evident that the author possesses a profound understanding of the subject matter, and their ability to bring historical events to life is commendable. However, as I eagerly turned the pages, engrossed in the narrative, I was confronted with a disappointing final chapter that tainted the overall experience.

Let's focus on the positives first. The author's research is impeccable, and their dedication to exploring historical archives and unearthing lesser-known facts shines through the pages. The book presents a comprehensive and insightful account of its subject matter, shedding light on significant events, individuals, and societal dynamics.

However, the concluding chapter left me disheartened. What began as a promising culmination of the book's themes took an unexpected turn, deviating into an overtly propagandistic tone. The author's loose comparisons and unsubstantiated claims diminished the credibility of their work. As a reader invested in the book's research and storytelling, I found it disappointing to encounter such a departure from the previously well-balanced narrative.

It is disconcerting when a serious author incorporates elements of propaganda into their work. While authors are entitled to express their opinions, it is crucial to maintain a certain level of scholarly integrity when presenting historical accounts. Unfortunately, the final chapter of "Caligula" fell short of this standard.

Despite this setback, I cannot ignore the merits of the book as a whole. The author's expertise and dedication are evident throughout the majority of the narrative, allowing readers to gain valuable insights into the subject matter. It is regrettable that the final chapter tarnishes the overall impression of the book.

In conclusion, the book is great until the end and then become an SNL skit. While the book excels in bringing history to life and engaging readers, the problematic ending, replete with propaganda and loose comparisons, undermines its credibility. Readers should approach the book with caution, appreciating its strengths while remaining critical of its concluding section.

Well-researched and engaging look at Caligula

The idea that this book is stained by modernity is silly, as it's based in historical fact and primary sources. Some may find the closing chapter discussing Caligula and former president Donald Trump together out of place, but looking back at history and not attempting to place contemporary events alongside it is, as they say, risking history repeating itself.

Unfortunate Finish

Enjoyable history. Discounting to have it ruined with an idiot’s politics chapter on comparing Trump to Caligula. Seriously? Grow up.

Good book, weird epilogue

This book is mostly about Caligula (and a little about his immediate successors) and does a thing that is more than it should be, he contextualizes things. He doesn’t excuse them either, which is the other issue when biographers fall in love with their subject, but he points out that some things are not as crazy as they seem to modern ears. It leaves you with an understanding as to why the public and Senate saw the man differently as well. I also came away finally understanding in a way that wasn’t just hand waved away why the Republic didn’t resume after a tyrant that terrorized the Senate and their families.

As for the epilogue (well half of it), it is just odd. To be clear I thoroughly disliked Trump. He was a con man when he was a Democrat and just kept going bigger. He has definitive authoritarian tendencies and was limited by the system from being worse than he was. He was no Caligula though. You want to make a Gracchi pitch, I’ll hear you out there. Maybe he has shown far worse (and effective) people what you can get away with for someone else to push it farther, but it is just a weird comparison for a one-term leader than more than half the voting public emphatically said no thanks to. Less yes to his successor, than no way to him emphatically.

A solid overview, sadly stained by modernity.

Let's start off with the good.

This biography of Caligula is fairly well written, a very nice overview of his life and the principal figures around him. Starting with his birth and ending a little past his assassination with a brief overview of his successor Claudius's reign. the author does a very good job of not only exploring potential avenues of justifications for some of Caligula's actions while not shying away from some of the more atrocious things he had done during his reign. The author also tactfully explores some of the potential thought processes around the sycophants and court officials that surrounded him and learned how to survive while always making it clear that these are just possibilities and not known fact. I also enjoyed the author's attempted medical diagnosis of Caligula potential madness, thought that was a fun little chapter.

The narrator does a fantastic job of reading this book. While some minor mispronunciation of names and places does occur it's very minor and does not take you out of the story at all. As someone whose library is filled with volumes on Ancient Rome and many other cultures with vastly different languages and vernaculars, this narrator has done better than most.

The Cons

The only con I can give the main substance of the volume ( though I'm not even sure it should be counted against the book as this may have been the author's intent) but it's definitely not what I would call a full biography. One of the great things about the late Republic early Imperial period of Rome is that we have so many volumes and surviving accounts of the events that took place. And while this book does a good job of covering those events it doesn't go into as great of detail as some other volumes have. I would rate this book for somebody who knows a bit about early Imperial Rome and wants to start dipping their toes into the deeper history of the era or just someone who is interested in Caligula personally without being bugged down by all the gritty minutia of the time.

The Ending Chapter

Here is where the bulk of the bad reviews for this book come from and honestly I can see why. As a bit of disclaimer as it never hurts to state your intentions in these modern times. I have no stake in the modern politics of America at all. I personally find modern politics to be a sad insult to the collective intelligence of not only America but the world in general. Now with that being said, the last chapter of this book truly drags it down in every possible way. This book's last chapter attempts to compare the Emperor Caligula who has been dead nearly two thousand years and compare him with the current American President Donald Trump. Not only are these comparisons superficial at best, quite a few of them stretch into what I would personally consider absurdity. ( there was a small section dedicated over to how Trump shakes other world leaders hands compared to Caligula) While comparing leaders both past and present can be interesting, thought-provoking and even quite insightful this at least to me seems more like grandstanding or the author attempting to force a personal view on to the the reader. The last chapter of this book is truly a jarring shift from what was otherwise a solid overview of Caligula.

overall pretty good but...

Donald Trump lives rent free in this guy's head apparently. It was just bizarre to compare one of Romes most infamously bad emperors to one of America's best modern president's. Let's go Brandon.

Thorough Biography

A thorough biography tainted only slighted from the completely unnecessary and tasteless last chapter. I do not support Trump at all, but to talk about the bias of the ancient biographers and then blatantly show your unrestrained bias of today’s political figures seems hypocritical.

No Place For Trump Bashing And Personal Politics In An Ancient History Book

Book was great minus the addition of personal politics into the mix, made it seem immature and amateurish, time and place and sadly this wasn’t the time or place, I thought I hit a button and another book was playing, do better, thank you

Boring and the end is just about how trump is worse than Caligula

Title says the just of it. The book reads like a wiki that is dotted with a few opinions. The last chapter has gems such as “they both use the word great a bunch” and “they both like sports”. Spoiler alert Caligula not so bad, trump the worst. Not at all bias. /s

Really, really bad

The narrative is fine but the book is awful. If I could give this book zero stars it would be a generous rating. Horrible