Wily, shrewd and pragmatic, Marius is not above using bribery and chicanery to achieve political ends. A brilliant military leader, Marius defeats the invading barbarian German tribes. He is the embodiment of the novel's title, a genuine New Man who transcends his Italian origins and earns the ultimate political accolade-the consulship-for an unprecedented six terms. The protagonist, Gaius Marius, is the symbol of that gradual change. When the narrative opens in 110 B.C., this rigidly stratified social order has begun to erode. Evoking with impeccably researched, meticulous detail the political and social fabric of Rome in the last days of the Republic, McCullough demonstrates a thoroughgoing understanding of an age in which birth and blood lines determine one's fate, and the auctoritas and dignitas of the Roman family mean more than any personal relationship. If nothing else, this hefty tome, the first of a projected series, proves that McCullough ( The Thornbirds ) can write a serious historical novel that edifies while it entertains.
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