#Charlottesville

"Your actions speak so loud, I can hardly hear what you say."  Abraham Lincoln (perhaps citing Emerson)

https://youtu.be/AZALxjZQArI

The Gracchi Reborn!

This isn’t my habit, but I simply have to do it.  I have to endorse a book, even before it’s released:  “The Storm before the Storm” by Mike Duncan (http://thestormbeforethestorm.com/).

Mike is the award winning and publically acclaimed podcaster of the famed “History of Rome” podcast series.  Mike continues his podcasting now with a series called “revolutions” where he explores various revolutionary periods throughout history.  He also has lead and leads several “History of Rome” tours that are wildly popular and rich in detail, culture, and fun.

What is amazing about his story telling is he brings to life a time and place that is foreign, dramatic, and ancient, as if it were yesterday and on the big screen.  In this book, Mike explores the late republican period of Roman history, just after the conclusion of the Punic Wars and before the ushering of the triumvirate.  This is a book that is ripe for the telling not only for its original context and times, but for the present.  As if to bring back the Oracle at Delphi, Mike opens this book with the tale of Tiberius Gracchus and is political harrying and brinksmanship that is as prescient in today’s politics as it was in that age.  I can’t wait to read and hear him speak again of the path the Senators and Assembly, Consuls and Tribunes took as the republic spun out of control.  The story will not only be entertaining and enlightening for its own telling, but also as a warning, lesson, and window into our future if we don’t take care to learn from the mistakes that the late Roman republic made.

If you haven’t done so already, go listen to Mike Duncan’s preview read of Chapter 1 of the book.  Do it NOW!!! (https://secure-hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/f/d/2/fd23dfd5207f9ba9/SBTS_Ch1_Master.mp3?c_id=16148242&expiration=1501891628&hwt=4f4546651a00ea29c865928a32deba7a).  And when you get done, do Mike, and really everyone, the favor, pre-order the book from your favorite source and in your favorite format.  I did and I hope you do too.

Again, I don’t normally do endorsements and encourage purchases, but this, I am absolutely sure, will be worth your while.  Happy Reading (or listening, as he’s also doing an audio-book version where he reads it himself)!