The Classical World: An Epic History of Greece and Rome

Occasionally dry and perhaps a little too obsessed with the sexual peccadilloes of the Greeks and Romans, Lane Fox still manages to furnish us with a magnificent overview of the two greatest civilisations of the ancient world. His own opinions and conclusions colour the book to a degree, but the subject is both infinite and infinitely debatable anyway, and Lane Fox, with his focus on themes of liberty, luxury and justice, is an expert guide on a single route into a vast territory.