Caesar Augustus and the Future

A Fictional Reshaping of Government

De: Clark A. Hiddleston

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

Does power corrupt, or does it force leaders to face realities?

Meet the new President of the United States--a woman with an inquiring mind and an appreciation of history.

In an attempt to save American democracy, Madame President asks a professor of ancient studies at Georgetown University to advise her on how Rome could have prevented the loss of its republic. Was Rome's civil strife really similar to ours?

Because the professor is married to an up-and-coming senator from the opposite political party of the President, complications arise. Political relationships turn personal.

When the professor is offered a promotion with a new office in the Yellow Oval Room of the White House, his wife gets jealous because it is located right next to the President's private quarters. The professor must reconcile loyalty to his wife, the President, and ultimately, the country. His sense of what he thought he knew from his academic studies gets distorted with new found responsibilities.

As mixed feelings eat at his very identity, the professor starts becoming an unreliable narrator of our story. Running a democratic government proves to be a delicate and difficult task.

Work through the looming issues and the historic analogues with the President and her advisor.

Raises Many Questions about Our Political System and that of Augustus—From the Author

By superimposing the age of Augustus on our future, I hoped to raise more questions than I answered. For instance, how did the professor in our story find something amiss at the White House? Should political standards be different after a period of civil unrest or war? Did the professor compromise his identity by accepting the President’s offer to move him to the opulent Yellow Oval Room? Was he helping a President who accomplished much for the American people, or did he unwittingly provide an ancient roadmap of how to amass power? In this audiobook, discover for yourself what was done in the first century and how it might be similar to our 21st century. Concerning the narrator, I picked the most expressive male virtual voice available. I spent several days interacting with the artificial intelligence to get the inflections and pauses right for the intended emotions. I liked his enthusiasm and found him humanish!