That's by far his weakest book tbh though it's entertaining. Like he's basically winging it/being very superficial with what he thinks Roman social relations were in a way that doesn't line up with what he cites (which was already pretty old in some cases when he cited it and wasn't up to date) and it leads to a big speculative hunch that I found super unsatisfying. Like It's a super fun theory to have about Caesar, but not one I think there's much evidence for and there's scholarly reasons you don't see it crop up in Roman studies journals. For being a historical materialist, Parenti never really engaged much in historical methodology (makes sense though, he was a political science researcher first then branched out in a sort of pop history by an academic that we see a lot of but for socialists instead of libs)
I have heard some stuff he winged kind of ended up being shown in Mass Oratory and Political Power in the Late Roman Republic by Morstein-Marx, but it's a complete coincidence if that's true lol.
I'm reading it now. It does seem a little speculative a point but as someone who knows fuck all about Rome / Ceaser it's pretty easy to pick up and read.
If you haven’t read the People’s history of the assassination of Ceaser of whatever the fuck it’s called you should
That's by far his weakest book tbh though it's entertaining. Like he's basically winging it/being very superficial with what he thinks Roman social relations were in a way that doesn't line up with what he cites (which was already pretty old in some cases when he cited it and wasn't up to date) and it leads to a big speculative hunch that I found super unsatisfying. Like It's a super fun theory to have about Caesar, but not one I think there's much evidence for and there's scholarly reasons you don't see it crop up in Roman studies journals. For being a historical materialist, Parenti never really engaged much in historical methodology (makes sense though, he was a political science researcher first then branched out in a sort of pop history by an academic that we see a lot of but for socialists instead of libs)
I have heard some stuff he winged kind of ended up being shown in Mass Oratory and Political Power in the Late Roman Republic by Morstein-Marx, but it's a complete coincidence if that's true lol.
I'm reading it now. It does seem a little speculative a point but as someone who knows fuck all about Rome / Ceaser it's pretty easy to pick up and read.
Fuck Cicero though.