Daniel Mendelsohn and Adrian Goldsworthy On Emperor Augustus

If ancient Rome is more your bag than medieval fantasy/sci-fi, then allow us to recommend this pow-wow on Emperor August (nee Gaius Octavius), featuring the inimitable Daniel Mendelsohn—whose expansive critical capacities have bent upon both the Odyssey and Mad Men. Mendelsohn will be discussing Augustus, the third ofStoner author John Williams’ great novels. Published in 1972, the book has recently been reissued with an intro by Mendelsohn. The novel, largely epistolary, follows the life and career of the first emperor of Rome—and was praised by the Financial Times for its “extraordinary range” and “extraordinary minuteness.” Mendelsohn will be joined by Adrian Goldsworthy, whose biography Augustus: From Revolutionary to Emperor has just been published by Yale University Press.