Promotions - Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles 2015 - Social & Behavioral Sciences — Economics — Women's & Gender Studies

The 42 years after the death of Alexander the Great are among the most complex and difficult to teach in Greek history.  Yet they were critical for the emergence of the Hellenistic state system.  A reliable guide through the seemingly endless wars of the period has long been a desideratum for teachers and students.  Anson (Univ. of Arkansas) addresses that need with this book.  After a lucid introduction surveying the Macedonian background of the period and the extant historical sources, four chapters treat the succession crisis following Alexanders death and the wars of his successors between 321 BCE and the official end of the Argead dynasty in 306 BCE.  A final chapter traces the wars leading to the emergence of the principal Hellenistic kingdoms between 306 BCE and 281 BCE.  The author analyzes the character of the new kingdoms in a brief epilogue, with particular emphasis on relations between the Macedonian kings and their non-Greek subjects.  Reference materials include source notes in the text, extensive endnotes, and a detailed bibliography.  Particularly welcome are appendixes explaining the chronology adopted in the book.  An excellent history of an important period.Summing Up: Essential. Belongs in all university libraries.

Theoretically rich but still highly accessible, Graffiti in Antiquity is the first comprehensive introduction to nonofficial writing and drawing in antiquity.  Keegan (Roman history, Macquarie Univ., Australia) gathered a massive body of evidence from Egyptian, ancient Greek, and Roman cultures, which he approaches from a variety of perspectives.  Each chapter is structured around a particular methodology or cultural theme (religion, magic, sport, sexuality, and so on), so the volume will be useful to those interested in these particular topics as well as in ancient daily life in general.  Also innovative is Keegans combination of textual, epigraphical, visual, and archaeological evidence.  Each chapter presents a truly holistic consideration of informal communication in the ancient world, and its role in forming both individual and community identity.  The book reveals the diversity of practice and the heterogeneity of the individuals who created graffiti in antiquity, and, as Keegan writes in his conclusion, the versatility of informal texts and images as the media of choice for transmitting information, ideas and attitudes.  Keegan has provided a thoughtful, sophisticated discussion of a body of evidence that can truly enhance understanding of antiquity.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Stevenson (Univ. of Queensland, Australia) intended his book as an introduction to the career and legacy of Julius Caesar for general readers and undergraduates, but he achieved much more.  His concise, well informed review of the sources on and issues about the most famous Roman is well organized, and his review of the scholarship is excellent.  Stevensons analysis of Caesars political career is on target.  He rightly stresses that Caesar long pursued a conventional political career, so his sudden leap into the ranks of the leading senators in 63 BCE was both unexpected and decisive.  Caesar possessed a sense of his own destiny as well as uncanny political skills that ensured his success after he brokered the First Triumvirate, the pact with Pompey and Crassus.  Most judicious is Stevensons discussion of why Caesar precipitated the civil war in 49 BCE, and why he pursued a policy of clemency to his defeated political foes.  Most convincing is that Caesar had no grand design for monarchy, so as dictator he was a most reluctant monarch.  Stevenson adopts a critical revisionist approach to Caesars generalship, a debatable view that this reviewer does not share, but his position is well argued.  This book is the best introduction to Julius Caesar for scholars and students.Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries.

This small book is jam-packed with historical analyses, clarifications, and provocative ideas.  Schwartz (Columbia), who has already published many articles and books about Jews in the last centuries BCE and the first centuries CE, e.g.,Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 B.C.E. to 640 C.E. (CH, Jul'02, 39-6592), squeezes out a convincing, informative narrative of Jewish survival under the Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines, despite the paucity of materials.  The author contextualizes Jewish and Israelite history, meaning that it fits into the history of other areas and peoples.  It is not unique and deserves to be studied by specialists in Roman and Hellenistic history.  He clarifies brilliantly the role of King Herod, who wanted to integrate Jews into the Roman system while maintaining Jewish identity.  In a few pages, Schwartz gives the best explanation for the Jewish revolt against Rome in 66 CE.  His analysis of the emergence of rabbinic leadership is a model of scholarship that is both understandable and plausible: the "corporate self-consciousness" of rabbis contributed to Jewish survival in an often hostile environment with which, nonetheless, the Jews interacted.  Rich notes and a bibliographic essay complete this surprisingly readable and important scholarly book.Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above.