She knows her audience well

This book has been decades in the making. It covers the first thousand years of Roman civilization, from the very earliest traditional accounts and archaeological evidence, up to the time when the empire began breaking apart. She has a way of combining the broad sweep of history with the tangible details which is very appealing. There have been many histories of Rome going all the way back to contemporary accounts and she works hard to explain what the latest scholarship has to say, or whether we simply have no idea what the facts were. It is a long read but rewarding to one with an interest in the topic and what legacy it leaves for us today.