A Don Nardo Sampler
Don Nardo has published more than five hundred forty books, a large portion of them historical works geared towards kids and teens. His books are ones that my students often end up using when they have to write their reports on historical or cultural topics relating to Rome. I cruelly assign 600-word reports twice a year AND I demand that students consult two book-length sources. I truly am the worst.
Here is just a sampling of what Don Nardo has written on topics in Roman history:
Greek and Roman Theater
The Age of Augustus
The Punics Wars
The Collapse of the Roman Empire
Life of a Roman Slave
Rulers of Ancient Rome
Games of Ancient Rome
Roman Roads and Aqueducts
Roman Amphitheaters
Life of a Roman Gladiator
The above list is a tiny fragment of his works just relating to Rome! It honestly is amazing how prolific this guy is.
I headed to the teen section of my library and lazily asked where the Roman history section was instead of trying to find it myself (I've spent a lot of time there, I should remember by now). This inquiry was oddly challenging for the librarian who seemed slightly defensive about the whole thing. She gave me a couple of incorrect suggestions and then I found it myself by looking where all the Roman Don Nardo books are: the 937s. I grabbed five of his books which I figured would give me a good sense of how he structures his works, how much material he recycles, and what kind of references and resources he provides to back up his writing and create starting points for further research.
The chosen five are:
Rulers of Ancient Rome - part of the History Makers series
Women of Ancient Rome - part of the Women in History series
Life in Ancient Rome, Life of a Roman Soldier, Games of Ancient Rome - all part of the The Way People Live series
(please see full citations below)
Rulers of Ancient Rome
Reading age: 12-15 years
Grade level: 7-9
This book begins with a one-chapter summary of Roman history and then dives into eight chapters of "great man" style history, beginning with Q. Fabius Maximus (of Second Punic War fame; 218 BCE) and ending with Justinian who ruled until 565 CE. The selection of the subjects for these short biographies makes sense to me for the most part, but I would quibble with including Fabius and Cicero. Fabius is undeniably one of many important figures from the Second Punic War, but why choose him over Scipio Africanus, the hero of the end of the war? I'm not sure. Likewise, there's no denying Cicero's importance in his time, but featuring him in a book focused on the rulers of Rome doesn't seem like the best choice.
Despite these minor objections (you can't profile everyone in a book this length!), the book does give a good overview of the life of each man and a sense for his significance in the period in which he lived.
Women of Ancient Rome
Grade level: 6-10
Turning from some of the great men of Rome to the women who bore, married and supported them, I was worried that the lack of source material would result in a painfully general treatment of the topic. Happily, Nardo has done a good job, not just giving the life stories of the few Roman women that we have some details on, but providing overviews of the major themes relevant to the study of women in ancient Rome. He hits the high points with a few biographies of such figures as Cornelia, daughter of Scipio Africanus, Fulvia, the wife of Marc Antony, and the pair of Agripinnas (granddaughter and great granddaughter of Augustus), before devoting chapters to the lives and occupations of lower-class women, marriage and divorce, and women's role in religion. Nardo uses sources from Pliny's letters (describing his wife's miscarriage, p. 70) to an epitaph where a man curses the wife who left him (p. 63). He really has made great efforts to cover the subject in a multi-faceted way.
One a less positive note, the layout of the text if a little confusing. Instead of using a textbox or some other way to demarcate the quotes from original sources that top many of the pages, he just has them in a slightly smaller font. Also, if you are interested in finding the originals of the many paintings and drawings included, good luck! On the "Picture Credits" page, sources such as "Northwind Picture Archives" without any indication of artist of medium is all you get.
Life in Ancient Rome
Grade level: 7-10
Life in Ancient Rome is the first of the three books in "The Way People Live" series. A positive difference from the two books above was quickly noticeable in terms of formatting of the text (much easier to differentiate between the main text and quotes plus analysis) and in the picture credits (much fuller information about where the artwork is held). In terms of the content, Nardo continues to pleasantly surprise me with the amount of original sources that he quotes (e.g. the poet Juvenal describing living conditions is his crummy neighborhood; the historian Tacitus recounting a tragic accident when an arena collapsed during a performance; and another, later historian Josephus explaining why the Roman army is so effective). Because he is so good about quoting ancient authors and other, more detailed works on Roman history, Nardo's books provide a great starting point for any student who wants to investigate a specific topic in more depth. This book surveys cultural aspects of Roman life such as fashion, entertainment and religion, and also looks at economic factors such as class, rural vs. city life, and trade.
Life of a Roman Soldier
Reading age: 12 years and up
Grade level: 7-9
I turned to this book with particular interest because half of the AP Latin curriculum is devoted to reading Julius Caesar's Commentary on the Gallic War. Despite the fact that his success in conquering (and arguably committing genocide in) Gaul was entirely contingent on his soldiers and their officers, Caesar does not give readers many details on the lives, training or tactics of the Roman army men. He assumes that this is common knowledge for his original readers. Fast forward 2000 years and it is pretty tough for your average high school student (or their teacher!) to imagine what a day in the life of Quintus Q. Soldier must have been like.
Nardo once again does a good job of sketching out the basics for readers with many quotes from ancient sources to back up with descriptions. He has an introduction and first chapter which detail how Rome came to have the first professional warriors in history (a somewhat debatable point in my opinion, but I understand his perspective) and how the military evolved as Rome grew from a city state with a lot of ambition to the empire that ruled from Britain to Egypt. He provides chapters on essentials such as battlefield tactics and siege warfare with others on less thrilling but equally important topics such as how soldiers were recruited and how the Romans set up their camps.
My impression after skimming this book is that military matters interest Nardo less than some of the social/cultural topics of the other books.
Games of Ancient Rome
Reading age: 10 years and up
Lexile measure: NC1310L
Grade level: 5-9
Games of Ancient Rome is not a book about the Roman version of chess or gin rummy, as you probably can guess from the cover illustration, this work is concerned with gladiatorial combat (with other deadly forms of combat and chariot racing making an appearance as well). Although gladiators are fascinating to my students and the public at large--witness the success of Russel Crowe in the movie Gladiator, or the Spartacus: Sand and Blood series--it is not a topic I am very interested in. I personally can't watch boxing, let alone contemplate a "sport" where more lethal weapons were used.
My personal qualms aside, Don Nardo does his usually proficient job in taking readers from the origins of the gladiatorial combats as a form of human sacrifice all the way up to the elaborate competitions (which were actually much less deadly) that took place in the famous Flavian Amphitheater (better known to us as simply the Colosseum). Along the way he looks at the famous buildings constructed to showcase the games, the complex system of training gladiators to be the top-level athletes that they were, and how various rulers used the games as a way to influence the public. Some of the most common myths are debunked as Nardo uses ancient sources to show contemporary attitudes (and how conflicted those were) towards what has become one of the best known aspects of Roman life. He finishes off the book with a chapter on wild animal "shows" (staged hunts of exotic animals) and the chariot races which Romans loved at least as much as we love the NFL today.
So there's a quick look at five of Nardo's books. I have to say that in general I am impressed with the amount of legitimate ancient sources he draws from. He has clearly researched each topic to an extent that would seem impossible, given his prodigious publishing schedule. The books are not page-turners or ground-breaking works, but that isn't his niche. He has found a formula which allows him to present solid information on a wide range of topics; these books are truly useful for students wanting to gain a solid grasp of a subject without getting too bogged down.
The set-up of each book is very similar:
1. a table of contents
2. a forward
3. an introduction
4. 6-9 chapters covering the topic
5. notes
6. a glossary or a chronology (not both)
7. a "For Further Reading" section
8. major works consulted
9. additional works consulted
10. index
11. picture credits
12. about the author
As you can see, there's not a lot of thrills involved, just clearly presented information backed up by good research. Thank you, Mr. Nardo!
Works Cited
Nardo, Don. Games of Ancient Rome. Lucent Books, 2000.
Nardo, Don. Life in Ancient Rome. Lucent Books, 1996.
Nardo, Don. Life of a Roman Soldier. Lucent Books, 2001.
Nardo, Don. Rulers of Ancient Rome. Edited by Don Nardo, Lucent Books, 1999.
Nardo, Don. Women of Ancient Rome. Lucent Books, 2003.
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