While I love history books and the topic of Caesar immensely this book left me a bit confused about whether is it a history book or a travel guide to Ancient Rome. The author gives the reader an interesting view trying to find pieces of the past today but his writing style and travel were far too meandering for my tastes. It read more like a travel diary than a history book rediscovering ancient sites that Caesar visited and have significance of some kind.

Received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review of the book.

This is an unusual nonfiction book that takes to straight to the streets of Rome. It was even more interesting to me as my reading of it came on the heels of a trip to Rome. It was a very interesting read.

Interesting history book! I loved the narrative of this book and its focus on the three main roads that cross Rome and how they are historical important from then to today! I did find it a bit travelogue like at some points and wish it had stayed in one format instead of switch between travelogue and an account of historical events and locations. This book was very informative and I loved learning so much about a topic that is not delved into as deep in a general history book or class. Definitely recommend giving this one a read!

Interesting journey between Rome and Istanbul (Constantinople) along the path of ancient Roman roads, some of which are still visible. Takes you through the footsteps.

This is part travelogue and part history. It revolves around the author's following the various roads built by the Roman Empire and how they have impacted life in the past as well as today. If you've been fortunate enough to travel these roads yourself the book is likely to bring back memories for you - whether of fighting the traffic around Rome or walking along a section in a peaceful glade.

Along the way you will meet experts and locals that the author consults to guide and enhance his travels. The book will whet your desire to either return to this land or to visit it for the first time and see it for more than just the monuments that appear on postcards and in books.

Tracing the Paths of Empire

One of Rome’s enduring achievements was its Roman road system. They remain the basis of Europe’s road system over the portions of Europe once ruled by Rome. While many have been paved over, some original portions still exist today.

“Following Caesar: From Rome to Constantinople, the Pathways That Planted the Seeds of Empire,” by John Keahey, follows Roman roads. Part travelogue, part ancient history, part current events and part philosophical musing, it explores Roman history through its roads.

Keahey follows three Roman roads across Italy, the Macedonian Republic, Greece, and Turkey in the post-Covid Europe of 2021. The journey takes him along the routes of Via Appia in southern Italy, Via Egnatia in the Balkans to Istanbul, and then up Via Traiani along Italy’s Adriatic shore. He explores why the roads were built, the history that occurred on each road, and their present-day appearance today.

He opens by recreating a diplomatic mission the Roman poet Horace made for Octavian between 40 and 37 BC. Keahey follows the Via Appia, the first Roman road, from Rome to Ariccia. Keahey, traveling by automobile, traces the route Horace took, using roads as close to the one Horace traveled, making the same stops as Horace. Keahey describes both Horace’s ancient experiences and Keahey’s contemporary ones, while describing changes between ancient and modern times.

Keahey uses this template for the rest of the book. He travels down a part of each road using an ancient trip as a template for his wanderings. He examines the ancient traveler, his motivations, and what happened along the way. He then describes his own experiences and the people he meets during his travels. All the while he explores contrasts with and similarities to the ancient experience with his 21st Century experiences.

He follows Pompey Magnus to Brusindium, Julius Caesar and across Macedonia to fight his opponents at Pharsalus, and Octavian and Marc Antony along the Via Egnatia where they do battle against Julius Caesar’s assassins. He trails Cicero up the Via Traiana. Along the way he explores archeology as well as history, seeking out unchanged portions of these roads.

“Following Caesar” is a delightful book to read. Keahey brings the past to life, doing an impressive compare and contrast between the ancient road and his own experiences. Along the way he shows the continuing relevance of Ancient Rome to modern Europe. His storytelling is imaginative, compelling and factual, a rare combination.

Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com.

“Following Caesar: From Rome to Constantinople, the Pathways That Planted the Seeds of Empire,” by John Keahey, St. Martin’s Press, December 2023, 256 pages, $30.00, (hardcover), $14.99 (e-book)

This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.

John Keahey takes the reader on a roadtrip along some of our oldest roads--Via Appia, Via Egnatia, and Via Traiana. With the unique twist of traveling during the pandemic, with varying degrees of testing requirements, some places off limits, and presumably, fewer tourists, this part-travelogue, part-history lesson puts a very contemporary twist on the journey. This book definitely made me want to explore history from a different perspective. #FollowingCaesar #NetGalley

I loved this book especially for all its digging. To do justice to this book, you have to savor it with google maps and steep yourself in the history and what it means for mankind. Loved this byway of modern time roads meeting ancient roads.

Newsman John Keahey has produced a wonderful history/travelogue of the "Via Appia" or as it is commonly known "The Romans Road." From how Caesar constantly borrowed money to have it built to the current day this is a charming and worthy addition to both travel writing and history.

Jon Keahey searches for pieces of ancient Roman roads across Italy, the Balkans, and southeastern Europe in this fascinating archaeological travelog. Following his journey along three ancient Roman roads, Keahey takes readers back to the height of the Roman republic and its early years as an empire to explore this massive neural network of roads that defined the Roman empire. Keahey explores local ruins and local history pertaining to the roads he follows, and this provides readers with a more modern history of these roads and the towns along the route. Keahey even goes into detail about the circumstances that COVID forced upon him while in the process of traveling across southeastern Europe. Keahey weaves local narratives and his interactions with locals into the book, adding the different perspectives and understandings of this ancient roads system. Readers will enjoy this mixed-genre narrative of ancient Rome and its traces in the modern world, and Keahey’s prose is solid and narratively engaging for readers. A fairly short book, Keahey makes every word count and maximizes the detail he includes throughout the book, and he immerses readers in the adventures and experiences, making the various archaeological and historical elements relevant and fascinating.

Thank you to the author Tim Keahey, publishers St. Martin's Press, and TLC Book Tours, for an advance paperback copy of FOLLOWING CEASAR. Thank you also to NetGalley for an accomanying widget. All views are mine.

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. The fact Covid 19 casted such a long shadow over the author's trip is grim and interesting. I wish we got more of this, and the dreadful tone it begs. Using the pandemic could have provided a thread to tie together all the disparate info, also. It's a shame the author does not rise to this occasion, instead taking the book in another direction.

2. My favorite bit in this book is the author's story about apples in Chapter 10. It's sweet, personal, I connect to it... it's lovely.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. This really feels to me like a travel journal that's been embellished. In form and tone, it's just not what I expected, and it's not grabbing my attention.

2. Because the author distributes historical facts in reference to his trip along a specific road, rather than chronologically or narratively, the reader may find connected material placed disparately when reading through the book. For me, this was a clarity issue.

3. This book is sadly dull. I'm unsure what the author would have written if his trip had not been interrupted by a global pandemic. But, I mean, the author's trip must have been dull if he has to write about finding parking multiple times, just to generate content and conflict.

Rating: 🛣🛣🛣 roads in Rome
Recommend? maybe
Finished: Dec 12 '23
Format: complimentary paperback, TLC, SMPI, digital arc, Kindle, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
🗺 travel journals
🏛 Rome
🌍 European history
🧫 Covid19 travel restrictions

The journal of a COVID-impacted trip along the major Roman roads was interesting, but suffered from some structural and editorial incoherence. There were repeated anecdotes that could have used a stronger editor and the depth of the historical information conveyed at each step of the journey along the way was made confusing by the fact that the author repeatedly slipped forward in both space and time. It was hard to grapple with the long history of the roads in the Roman empire when the author would talk about places other than where he currently was along the roads. That said I did like the history he talked about and I loved seeing how today different places were restoring (or not) and celebrating (or not) the roads.

I've read so many rich, fascinating nonfiction books recently and unfortunately this one just didn't work for me. From the very beginning I felt a bit lost; it meandered without a specific thread and all the interesting historical information just felt a bit jumbled and lacked focus. It was also all quite dry and boring and my attention wandered significantly.

I can see this maybe being a good reference book if you were going to be traveling in the areas (and if the final version adds in maps and photos as a guide), but as someone wanting to learn more about the history and development of Italy's roadways I was left wanting more.

Thank you St Martin"s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I fould this book hard to follow but I also know nothing about the area John Keahey is traveling. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had a stronger background in the area or the history. It would be a good book to take along if you were following that same route. Thank you to #NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest and independent review.

I enjoyed Keahey's travel following the path of Caesar as long as I kept in my mind that it was simply a travelogue. I can see the narration trying to go more academic, but for me, it didn't quite hit the mark in that respect. I liked the descriptions and the way the overall book is structured.
Overall, if you are looking for a read following someone travelling through noting certain historical markers, without a whole lot of reader engagement, then this work is for you.

It was fascinating to learn about a road that was built thousands of years ago and could carry 6 soldiers abreast, chariots, wagons, and animals was still here today. In Following Caesar the author seamlessly blends history and the sites he is seeing bring you along to explore the Roman Road. Each chapter starts with a historical text that author weaves into the chapter to share about his journey. I found I enjoyed the book when I read a little bit each day. The book shares many travel tips for anyone wanting the travel the roads today. I found the facts about the road itself so interesting. I recommend Following Caesar.

I was given a complimentary copy and a positive review was not required.

I enjoy history for itself, and the many present-day echoes of historical events just add texture to my pleasure. This historical-tourism book was as deeply involving to me as a standard historical narrative because the conceit...following the Roman roads...is my idea of a great adventure vacation. The author was my guide on this escape from home. It worked as well as anything could because I knew I was in experienced hands (he has written four other books on touring Italy as a history buff.)

While I was very interested in his veteran-journalist's observations of the world traversed by the Roman roads he then traversed himself, and by his reports of his companions' responses to the modern world as well as the archaeology of the paths they traveled together, I was very disappointed that the book contained NO maps or photos.

Don't let that lapse stop you from enjoying the informed, intelligent voice of this forty-five-year veteran reporter as he shares his observations of the world he's moving through. His lifelong fascination with Italy and Rome (men really *are* obsessed with Rome!) gives him a very full view of the countries and regions he takes us through. This book is one of those rare books that, just as a reading experience, solely for the way the author builds an image and creates a simile, is a pleasure to read.

That his trip in Turkey, Asia Minor that was, coincided with COVID and its joys was very evocative for him. Plenty of plagues to meditate on. His religious ruminations are interesting to my deeply, faithfully atheist self...the road network of ancient Rome, and its internal postal connections enabled thereby, are largely responsible for the spread of the religion all across the empire. (There were christians in Pompeii...they found a ROTAS square there! By 79AD there were christians in Italy!)

I do want to mention that the "Caesar" of the title is not Julius; remember that Caesar was a title during the empire, and Trajan, whose Via Traiana is followed, was also a Caesar.

Self-gifting for a lovely time on #Booksgiving, as you settle down in your favorite reading spot, a beverage and a snack close at hand...Italy is involved, there is going to be food talk...and immerse yourself in a part of the world that could not possibly be richer in cultural highlights.

One star off for the absence of photos and/or illustrations.

ub Week Review: Following Caesar: From Rome to Constantinople, The Pathways That Planted The Seeds of Empire (12/12) ✨

⁉️: Have you ever been to Italy? What is your favorite Italian dish?

I have always wanted to explore Italy, especially Rome and Venice. When I was young in high school, I used to dream of having my honeymoon in Venice. While we ended up going to the Dominican for a weekend, I think we may make a trip there during our wedding anniversary some day.

I love to travel, and adore travel narratives, and enjoyed this story which made me time travel into the history of Ancient Rome through the modern lens.

In this non-fiction narrative, we learn about young and ambitious Julius Caesar who wanted to establish himself as a Roman ruler. He borrowed significant sums of money to restore the ancient highway to pain popularity among his followers. He led armies along the Via Apia across the Balkans to fight in Roman civil wars.

John Keahey’s part travel narrative/part history delves into the experiences and encounters people had in Italy, North Macedonia, Greece, and Turkey, who embrace travelers who connect with each other and share knowledge of historical sites, meals, and a wealth of local stories. If you enjoy history and travel, then this book is for you.

Thank you @stmartinspress for the gifted arc.

#FollowingCaesarBook #JohnKeahey #StMartinsPress #shnidhi

A great historical narrative coupled with the authors travels. Lovely to follow along as the author traversed along the ancient ruins.

I was expecting a bit more history about the Roman road system, and this turned out to instead highlight the author’s journey of finding the ancient road system underneath and near modern roads.

To be sure, he does mention some historical context in many of the locations, but the primary driver is the modern trips that he took.

Without a handy map or knowledge of the modern roads, I found myself skimming over some of the descriptions as he frequently mentions how a certain highway follows the old road between two specific cities, and then is the basis for another highway towards another city.

Interesting to read, just not what I expected.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advance copy.