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Article: The Battle That Stopped Rome.(Book review)
- Article from:
- The Historian
- Article date:
- December 22, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Battle That Stopped Rome. By Peter S. Wells. (New York: W. W. Norton, 2003. Pp. 256. $24.95.)
Narrative history is alive and well, as the author of this book demonstrates in this welcome addition to the ranks of ancient military history studies. Quickly establishing that the battle in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9 resulted in a frontier that has lasted two thousand years, the author shapes his narrative "of perhaps the most important battle in European history" for a contemporary American reader (18). Moving beyond the strict limits of the archaeological and historical sources, the author makes "informed guesses to fill gaps in the hard evidence. Parts of this ...