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Cleopatra: A Life - Community Reviews back

by Stacy Schiff
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daisyq
daisyq rated it 12 years ago
Loved this - very readable, fascinating look at the life and times of Cleopatra, and by extension, Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and Augustus.Schiff explains the context for Cleopatra's life: the history of Cleopatra's family as rulers of Egypt, and what it meant to rule in Egypt, especially alongside...
narfna
narfna rated it 12 years ago
I can’t remember the last time I read an honest to God biography, so either it’s been a really long time or whatever it was was so unmemorable that my brain has erased it from my memory banks. Last autobiography? Easy: Benjamin Franklin. And I read memoirs all the time. But biographies, man, they’re...
The Book High
The Book High rated it 12 years ago
This book was fascinating, and reading it was an interesting experience.This is the first book I've read by Ms. Schiff, and it took me more than half of the book to come to appreciate her writing style. It seemed for much of the book as though she wasn't sure of who her audience was. Ms. Schiff us...
JasonKoivu
JasonKoivu rated it 12 years ago
Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra: A Life is speculative, board-line revisionist history. It is unabashedly pro-Cleopatra. Schiff looks at all the historical accounts - many of which did not paint the Egyptian queen in a kindly light - and attempts to distort the image so that the portrait favors her subject...
Caffeine Reviews
Caffeine Reviews rated it 13 years ago
This was probably one of my more challenging books I've read this year and it is one of my favorite history subjects. Schiff's style of writing was a little hard for me to get into but once I got past the first couple of chapters it was smooth sailing. I totally enjoyed Stacy Schiff's narrative of C...
Meandering Em's
Meandering Em's rated it 13 years ago
Interesting look at Cleopatra and the power she wielded over the Roman leaders until she encountered Octavian (later renamed Augustus Caesar). The first two chapters could have been less boring, but after the background information about Cleopatra's ancestry, the book came alive and was hard to put...
Cassandra Reads
Cassandra Reads rated it 13 years ago
Finished! It didn't take as long as I expected it to. I don't really know what to say about it. I don't think I'll listen to any more non-fiction audiobooks, they just don't work for me for some reason. Cleopatra I learned some things, like that Marc Anthony and Cleopatra had 3 children. I thought t...
Get Lost in the Stacks
Get Lost in the Stacks rated it 13 years ago
Today I finished Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff. Schiff takes the reader inside the life of one the most fascinating women in ancient history. Going from her birth to the height of her power to her downfall and eventual death in 30 BCE, Schiff proved a look into a women who for the most part to the recor...
EricaO
EricaO rated it 14 years ago
This is definitely not what I had hoped, this look into the life of the most well-known Egyptian queen in history. I did appreciate the historical context it gave me as I was simultaneously reading Nefertiti by Michelle Moran, but it did not make me feel as if I had learned about the fabled Cleopatr...
VeganCleopatra
VeganCleopatra rated it 14 years ago
I consider myself an aficionado of Cleopatra and I devour all things regarding her and her life. I did not think it was possible to take the incredible story that is Cleopatra's life and make it dull. I was wrong. Schiff seemed to make it a point to make the story as boring and unemotional as possib...
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