The First Century: Emperors, Gods and Everyman

by William K. Klingaman

Book Overview

An engrossing popular history of the major events and people at the time of Jesus, the Roman Empire, and the Han Dynasty.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060921277
• ISBN13: 9780060921279
• Release Date: October 1991
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Great brief history!

The book is awesome and has whet my appetite for more history. At first I did not like the divided history approach of highlighting Rome, Judea and China in various chapters but after reading through the book it did seem to motivate one to read through to get to the next continuation (kind of like a cliff hanger). This tended to highlight more of Rome & Judea and only a small amount of China.

A Terrific Popular History of the First Century A.D.

The late historian Barbara Tuchman wrote a wonderful book called "A Distant Mirror" about the calamitous 14th century. It is absolutely spell-binding for history enthusiasts. While Klingaman's book is not quite as well written, it does a remarkable job of presenting the world-shattering changes that took place during the First Century A.D. (or C.E. if you prefer). As a Christian of the Episcopalian stripe, I enjoyed the "context" it provides for understanding the time of Jesus. I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in the subject. Bring along your thinking cap because it's very thought provoking!

Very well-written

This book is wonderfully written, a pleasure to read. I give it five stars even though it is somewhat lop-sided: although it claims to be a history of Rome, China, and Judea in the first century, the author shows a decidedly western bias. Counting the sections, I see 14 on Rome, 11 on Judea, and only 7 on China. The author seems more sure-footed, and more excited, when describing Rome.However, overall I found this a great read, enough so that it inspired to get some of the authors other books.

Quite simply, BRILLIANT !

This book is written with style and some wit, bringing long dead shakers & movers to life. Very entertaining with some clever insights from the author who also presents historical figures with personalities (accurately or not - it does'nt matter), opinions etc.. Bloody good read.

Very readable for a history review of the first century.

If you have ever wondered about the events that shaped leaders and everyman, thousands of years ago, this is an entertaining read, considering it is non-fiction. The real life events are presented in a way that brings characters into stories that otherwise would seem to be so long ago and nameless.A great line was "At the dawn of the first century, the empire over which Augustus ruled,-with the aid of only a rudimentary civil service-encompassed nearly eighty million people and ranged across ten thousand miles of frontier..."A good read for the context getting of where we came from to get where we are today as peoples on this globe.