The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podgolomorate Network and LIT Hub Radio.

Hello, it was the Golden Age of an empire, the Pex Romana, or Roman peace, when Rome became the wealthiest

and most formidable state in the history of humankind.

Only the most brilliant of historians could convey the empire's scope and impact, but even that might be insufficient.

Because you'd need a novelist to properly relate the incredible stories of Romans both ordinary and spectacular.

Luckily for us we have both historian and novelist and they are the same person.

Tom Holland on War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age,

today on the history of literature. Sure. is on.

Scholars and researchers are looking for a very special book and we will tell you what that book is.

And then we'll have Tom Holland, one of the most readable historians

working in the world today. He began life, or his professional life, maybe I should say, as a novelist, writing thrillers about things like Lord Byron as a vampire.

And then his childhood love for history recaptured him and he turned to non-fiction, but he didn't

lose that sense of what a reader wants.

His eye for novelistic detail or his feel for narrative pace.

He is a great storyteller and conversationalist too and I enjoyed

talking to him. And because I'm feeling generous we're getting into that holiday

spirit here at the history of literature. How about a little bonus content?

We previously had another historian slash storyteller on our show,

on our cargill Martin, who told us all about the Empress Messalina.

You can find that show in our archives.

Today we'll ask Honor for a recommendation for the last book she will ever read.

Which one, when the time comes, would she like to turn to?

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