Rating: 
Summary: History Lite ... Interesting Sometimes
Review: This book was a pleasant surprise in some ways but also reminded me of why I tend to stay away from history books that look like they have been "popularized". It is a quick read of twelve short chapters, four of which give details of what perhaps happened during the battle itself while the other eight provide context.
My major complaint about this book is that, by the author's own admission, the four chapters discussing the battle itself contain "carefully crafted historical speculations" making guesses to fill in gaps where we don't know exactly what happened. Peter Wells says he does this to provide a coherent story for the general public. Historians must always deal with such gaps, and a good historian will frankly acknowledge where the evidence is weak or unclear, discuss competing interpretations, and explain why he favors one explanation over another. Rather than lay this thought process out to the reader, Wells hides it by simply telling his version of the story without any indication of which portions are solidly supported by evidence, which are educated guesses, and which are just plain guesses. He promises that this is all made clear in the bibliographical essay at the end but no such details are given. Perhaps if I read everything in the bibliography, I could reconstruct his thought process, but a reader should not have to do this after a well-written history book. I find it condescending that Wells (or his editor) decided that the educated general public could not handle a discussion of the evidence and opted for a tidy, flashy story instead. The line between history and historical fiction is a little blurry here.
The book feels "dumbed down" in a few other ways as well starting with some claims that feel exaggerated. For example, there is the assertion on the back cover that the battle was a "blow from which the Roman Empire never recovered". To be fair, the book does acknowledge that the Roman Empire continued to exist for 500 more years (!) and explains that the real significance of the battle was to persuade Rome not to continue expansion into Northern Europe. In other places, the narrative gets mired down in a graphic description of battlefield violence:
"The battlefield was a scene of utter horror and human devastation that we can scarcely imagine. Razor-sharp spears careened off helmets and armor, or sliced into the soft flesh underneath the metal protectors. Men screamed, trying to wrench embedded spears from their bodies, at the same time that the surging mass of panicked soldiers crushed against them. Hundreds fell to the damp ground, pierced by spears or simply losing their footing in the chaos. Men shrieked in agony as the spearpoints penetrated their flesh, or moaned in pain as their lives ebbed away. Blood flowed everywhere, spurting from punctured arteries, and oozing from gaping wounds. Some spears tore open men's abdomens, and their intestines spilled out onto the blood-soaked track. The stench of blood quickly enveloped the entire landscape."
I am sure the battle was every bit as horrific as this paragraph from Chapter 9 suggests, but I didn't need to read the book to know that. A good chunk of this chapter is more sensationalistic than informative, and I couldn't resist checking if the book were co-authored by Stephen King.
On a more positive note, the eight chapters that describe the context and aftermath of the battle read much better than the four about the battle itself. Because they survey the culture of the ancient Germans as well as the Romans, there is more material to draw upon, and the book feels like history again. This is the first history book I have read that drew significantly upon archaeological knowledge and has whetted my appetite for more. Descriptions of the layouts of nearby Roman military bases and German villages as well as the everyday life experienced by their occupants are vivid and engaging. There are some real gems in here such as the letters written between Roman soldiers and families that sound eerily familiar (I am sending some new, clean underwear, etc...).
There are enough of these little gems scattered throughout the book to make it worth the quick read that it is. It is unfortunate that the sections about the battle itself are so weak when they should have been the strongest. I recommend this book for anyone new to history reading that wants an easy, entertaining book to try. I also recommend it, with some reservations, to the hard-core history reader as a quick, light read when you need a break after reading three dense 800-page monsters in a row.
Rating: 
Summary: Useful and interesting but frustrating
Review: This is a useful book on a fascinating subject and has many interesting bits of information about the military and archaelogical aspects of things. But it's frustrating, too, it needs rather more quotes from the Roman authors. The pyschological and cultural aspects are also rather light on. Still, it's a start. (For a fascinating look at the episode, try also the Forest section in Simon Schama's amazing book, Landscape and History.)
Rating:
Summary: A puzzling Roman defeat not completely explained...
Review: This well structured book is attempting to explain the infamous Varian disaster that occured in September of A.D. 9. Three Roman legions with their auxiliaries and family members were massacred in a well planned ambush by Arminius, a young German chief and an unknown number of German warriors in Germany.The basic problem is that the losers of the battle (the Romans) had historical descriptions, but they were biased. The winners (the German tribes) left no written description behind. The archeological evidence, as amazing as it is to reveal the location of the battle near Kalkriese, Germany is not truly reflecting the battle scene. Both the Germans and the Romans repeatedly altered the scene well after the battle, so it is a free for all to come up with a plausible scenario about how this conflict really happened. The author's assumptions appear to contradict most earlier theories, claiming the highly unlikely possibility that essentially all Romans were killed in about three hours. Starting with a devastating spear attack, an ensuing panic, then chaos, then good old hand to hand combat and three legions were gone. One should keep in mind that although these are the only legions that have no known unit names (like "Gemina", "Rapax" etc.), they were nevertheless battle hardened professional soldiers marching in battle formation in an enemy territory. Romans were not known to panic that easily. Plus, as there are evidences of at least two campsites (one well built, one hastily), one should consider the existing theory of a three day running battle. How it happened? Nobody knows...
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Book on Ancient Rome/Europe
Review: Using the writings of ancient historians, as well as the results of recent archaeological excavations, the author reconstructs the legendary battle referred to in the book's title. But this book contains much more than a detailed educated reconstruction of that battle in all of its gory details; the author builds up to the battle by going back many years to show the evolution of the relationships between the Roman Empire and its neighboring peoples. The daily life of ancient Romans is discussed as well as that of the ancient Germans, in addition to their comparative ways of thinking, fighting, technology, etc. The pertinent highlights of the lives of Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, Arminius and other key historical figures are also well presented. The immediate aftermath of the battle is discussed, as are the effects on subsequent Roman-German relationships. The author writes very clearly, authoritatively and in a very engaging style which makes the information presented most accessible to the general reader. The book does contain a certain amount of repetition, as pointed out by a prior reviewer; however, in my opinion, this does not take away from the book's qualities. This is a valuable addition to the popular literature on the ancient world. A real page-turner that is highly recommended!
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