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Rome from the Ground Up (From the Ground Up)
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 711.4094563
EAN: 9780674022638
ISBN: 0674022637
Label: Belknap Press
Manufacturer: Belknap Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: October 31, 2006
Publisher: Belknap Press
Studio: Belknap Press
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Editorial Review: Rome is not one city but many, each with its own history unfolding from a different center: now the trading port on the Tiber; now the Forum of antiquity; the Palatine of imperial power; the Lateran Church of Christian ascendancy; the Vatican; the Quirinal palace. Beginning with the very shaping of the ground on which Rome first rose, this book conjures all these cities, past and present, conducting the reader through time and space to the complex and shifting realities--architectural, historical, political, and social--that constitute Rome. A multifaceted historical portrait, this richly illustrated work is as gritty as it is gorgeous, immersing readers in the practical world of each period. James McGregor's explorations afford the pleasures of a novel thick with characters and plot twists: amid the life struggles, hopes, and failures of countless generations, we see how things truly worked, then and now; we learn about the materials of which Rome was built; of the Tiber and its bridges; of roads, aqueducts, and sewers; and, always, of power, especially the power to shape the city and imprint it with a particular personality--like that of Nero or Trajan or Pope Sixtus V--or a particular institution. McGregor traces the successive urban forms that rulers have imposed, from emperors and popes to national governments including Mussolini's. And, in archaeologists' and museums' presentation of Rome's past, he shows that the documenting of history itself is fraught with power and politics. In McGregor's own beautifully written account, the power and politics emerge clearly, manifest in the distinctive styles and structures, practical concerns and aesthetic interests that constitute the myriad Romes of our day and days past.
(20050718)
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - for me it was fine
This book will not be for everyone, but it was for me. I walked (and ran) all over Rome for a week a few months ago with the aid of a useful, but necessarily terse, guidebook. So I know the city superficially, but not very well. McGregor's treatise filled many gaps for me nicely. I wanted to know more about the architecture and history of Rome, and this book did the job. McGregor is strong on his architecture and passable on his history. I did find myself skimming some of the finer architectural ... Read More
Rating: - Good, but not that good
I felt this was something of a mixed bag. Parts of it were illuminating and fresh (the geological overview; the argument that Rome is not a palimpsest of overlaid cities but a mosaic of successive cities lying mostly side-by-side), other parts less so (the ho-hum chapter on the Roman Forum).
There are, however, some major historical howlers. Two will suffice: McGregor states that the senate was staffed by patricians and was all-powerful, when in fact patricians were a minority in the senate ... Read More
Rating:  - a writer trying to find a public
Writer trying to find a public
When I bought Rome from the ground up I had no idea what to expect, thinking it was perhaps something along the line of Krautheimers Profile of a city (which by the way is mentioned in the bibliograpy of the book), showing the many layers of which Rome exists and the city's long and complicated history. Just to illustrate what I mean: if you are standing in the Forum and looking at the eight surviving columns of the temple of Saturn, it would be just as easy to write ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent portrait of Rome -- well written and approachable
I read many of the comments by the other reviews, and I was surprised by some of the comments, particularly those of the review from Amsterdam. Please do not read his review thinking that the Blue Guide to Rome surpasses this book. It is simply misleading and not true. The Blue Guide to Rome is opinionated and poorly written, whereas McGregor's book is more impartial and fair in its assessment of Rome.
In my edition, there are no errors that were mentioned by another reviewer. What this ... Read More
Rating:  - Comprehensive and Illuminating
I thought I knew Rome well after living there for several months studying its' architecture, art, and urban structure, but I was constantly delighted by this book's comprehensive scope and illuminative details. McGregor's method of looking at each era of the city through a region's buildings, urban fabric, and artistic treasures is a great way of organizing what can otherwise be an impossible avalanche of information. This method may not be for everyone - if want to pick up a book to find out who built a ... Read More
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