ROME: AN URBAN HISTORY FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE PRESENT. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. xvi + 432, illus., maps, plans. isbn 9781107013995. £85. CLAIRE HOLLERAN, and AMANDA CLARIDGE, (EDS),; A COMPANION TO THE CITY OF ROME. (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World). Hoboken/Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018. Pp. xxvi + 758, illus., plans. isbn 9781405198196. £130. SETH BERNARD, ,; BUILDING MID-REPUBLICAN ROME: LABOR, ARCHITECTURE, AND THE URBAN ECONOMY. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. 336, illus. isbn 9780190878788. £55. STEPHEN L. DYSON, ,; ARCHAEOLOGY, IDEOLOGY AND URBANISM IN ROME FROM THE GRAND TOUR TO BERLUSCONI. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. xv + 327, illus. isbn 9780521874595. £75.

RABUN TAYLOR, KATHERINE RINNE and SPIRO KOSTOF, ROME: AN URBAN HISTORY FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE PRESENT. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. xvi + 432, illus., maps, plans. isbn 9781107013995. £85.

CLAIRE HOLLERAN and AMANDA CLARIDGE (EDS), A COMPANION TO THE CITY OF ROME. (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World). Hoboken/Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2018. Pp. xxvi + 758, illus., plans. isbn 9781405198196. £130.

SETH BERNARD, BUILDING MID-REPUBLICAN ROME: LABOR, ARCHITECTURE, AND THE URBAN ECONOMY. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. 336, illus. isbn 9780190878788. £55.

STEPHEN L. DYSON, ARCHAEOLOGY, IDEOLOGY AND URBANISM IN ROME FROM THE GRAND TOUR TO BERLUSCONI. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. xv + 327, illus. isbn 9780521874595. £75.

Taylor, Rinne and Kostof's comprehensive treatment of the urban environment of ancient Rome is a helpful introduction for any student encountering the history of the city for the first time. The first fourteen chapters, principally the work of Taylor, are devoted to the ancient city from its foundations to the tetrarchy and Constantine; the last ten, written largely by Rinne, cover Rome from the Renaissance to the present; while chs 15 to 23 and ch. 25 are a revised version of Kostof's 1976 Matthews Lectures on Medieval Rome. The project emerged from a desire on the part of the living authors to place these lectures, unpublished at the time of Kostof's death in 1991, in the public domain and then to extend the story backwards in time to Rome's foundation and forward to its present. Considering its genesis, the result is admirably cohesive and the focus on medieval Rome is particularly welcome. Of the four books under review, it is the only work that attempts a narrative ‘from antiquity to the present’.

Coverage and attractive layout are the book's greatest advantages. Instructors will want to set specific chapters for specific classes, but in fact the careful integration of themes and narrative throughout the largely chronological arrangement means that those who read the book as a whole will get the greatest benefit. There are signs that this is what the authors want. Technical terms, for example, are defined within the text rather than in a glossary and the discussion in later chapters builds upon the preceding material. This really...