Rome
A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History

First, I must say that the title is a bit puzzling. I thought that “Visual History” meant something like ‘pictorial history’, but there are too few pictures in the book to justify it. There is art and architecture galore, but other than that, there is a dearth of discussion about other aspects of cu......more

Art critic Robert Hughes’ book Rome is a highly opinionated history and art tour of the Eternal City. Major tourist attractions are almost ignored as they have been much covered elsewhere and there are no recommendations for restaurants, no shopping tips for hipsters, no advice on where to stay. Ber......more

When I was young, Robert Hughes - his art criticism, and especially his book The Shock of the New - was one of the most important things to happen to me. He grounded me in art, the culture, in a way that perhaps no other author did. Shock of the new indeed, he drug my half-educated post-graduate car......more

This book is nothing if not thorough. It follows the history of the city of Rome in sometimes excruciating detail, from the mythical twins suckling at the she-wolf down through relatively modern times. I'm glad I read it, but it was far too much of an investment to do again. The book ends up followi......more

Inevitably packed with information about this most incredible of cities, Hughes' Rome could, however, have done with a serious edit. Not only is it overlong and repetitive, it's also scattered with factual errors, never a good sign for a book that's ostensibly authoritative. (Eg p232 it refers to Cl......more