"In Rome's Revolution, Richard Alston presents an excellent, concise survey of the key period of Roman history from the fall of the Republic to the rise of the Empire. He also reminds us that, however much politics and oratory influenced these years, it was violence that ultimately changed Rome." --Philip Freeman, author of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar "A skillfully woven portrait of the establishment of the Roman principate, dyed in much blood." --Tom Holland, author of Rubicon and In the Shadow of the Sword "With violence and bloodshed at its very heart, Rome's Revolution will take readers out of their historical comfort zone. Richard Alston sets out to elucidate the messy nature of Roman history and to reject the utility of the concepts of consensus, settlements, and so on that have dominated the study of ancient history for more than a generation." --Ray Laurence, author (with Alex Butterworth) of Pompeii: The Living City"Relentlessly exposing the bloody ruins and mangled corpses beneath the shining surface of order and peace restored after the age of Rome's civil wars, Alston's compelling narrative of the violent transition from Republic to Empire helps us understand a lesson that matters to all ages-not least our own: that the benefits of empire (whatever its nature) come at a tremendous price-a price that is but insufficiently expressed by the much abused ideal that we, like the Romans, call liberty." --Kurt A. Raaflaub, editor of War and Peace in the Ancient World