Books by Greg Woolf

5. Greg Woolf, The Life and Death of Ancient Cities: A Natural History .  A very useful introduction and overview to its chosen topic, a good and readable book for urbanists who are looking for general historical background.

That is the new book by Greg Woolf .  Could it now be the best single-volume introduction to the history of ancient Rome?  It is conceptual yet avoids the pitfalls of overgeneralizing, a difficult balance to strike.  It also has a superb (useful rather than exhaustive) bibliography.  A good measure of books such as this is whether they induce you to read or order other books on the same topic and this one did.