Cleopatra Book Reviews

AUTHOR
Stacy Schiff
SCORE
4
TOTAL RATINGS
676

Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff Book Summary

The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt.

Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator.

Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; incest and assassination were family specialties. Cleopatra appears to have had sex with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and -- after his murder -- three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends. Cleopatra has lodged herself in our imaginations ever since.

Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Shakespeare and Shaw put words in her mouth. Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Elizabeth Taylor put a face to her name. Along the way, Cleopatra's supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order. Rich in detail, epic in scope, Schiff 's is a luminous, deeply original reconstruction of a dazzling life.

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Book Name Cleopatra
Genre Biographies & Memoirs
Published
Language English
E-Book Size 6.26 MB

Cleopatra (Stacy Schiff) Book Reviews 2024

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Cleopatra. Wonderfully written. Always interesting.

This doesn't belong in nonfiction. An amazing read about a truly terrifying legend, but it's a fictional account. The author does a tremendous job of letting your mind fill in the blanks.

The chapter "We Must Often Shift Sails..". leaves you breathless like a great novel. The rest is an eloquent scholarly sorting of fact and fiction, putting history in context and placing the author with the ancients. This book shows how the skip to notes feature is not one of iBooks' best.

Amazing!. I will read this book again and again. Beautifully written and engrossing. I was emotionally evolved with Cleopatra's story by the middle of the book. It was refreshing and invigorating to read a realistic account of a talented, intelligent, politically powerful women instead of pot of trumped up sensationalism spewed out by jealous men.

Wow!!. I've read other books about Cleopatra... But this is the most interesting in all of the iBooks, for sure!

Another misleading work of "nonfiction". If I could give this book zero stars I would.

Fantastic and realistic!!!. I read a book on Cleopatra by Jacob Abbott, who presented Cleopatra to be a careless temptress; heavy on sensationalism and light on facts. This book was believable and explained historic events clearly. Clearly written, yet the story reads like a thriller; you will not be bored. It also makes you recognize all the myths surrounding this incredible woman. P.S. Though the disconnected footnotes are annoying, the pictures are excellent, especially on the iPad.

Cleopatra. I thought I knew about Cleopatra until I read this book! I feel like I know her and all the major players in her life. The authors research and her ability to write nonfiction like a novel makes this book one that cannot be put down.

Cleopatra. Hardly deserving of the term novel, this reads more like textbook or an opinionated listing of facts that jumps to and fro. The only thing that kept me reading is how fascinating the actual material is.

Incredible!. Highly recommended.

Cleopatra. Well written biography about someone who is still wrapped in mystery and only partially revealed because of the lack of recorded information by consistent and reliable historians.

Reading this book .... ... on my iPad is a great experience. Love my iPad and like the book!

Not Much that Wasn’t Written by Rome. I was not impressed by the supposed scholarship of this work. In fact, I’d go as far as to say this is more pseudo scholarship. There is no clear thesis, but it seems Schiff is attempting to “restore Cleopatra“ to her rightful place in history (11). Sadly, nowhere in this book does that happen. This book has about as much gossip as a celebrity magazine. If that’s your thing and you want to say you read a book about Cleopatra, knock yourself out. If you want actual scholarship, look elsewhere. Schiff talks about the sexism that built up the myth and legend of Cleopatra, but turns around to be supremely sexist to Fulvia, Antony’s second wife. She describes Fulvia as dying of “incessant meddling” and Cleopatra as “wanton” (154). These were Schiff’s words, not a quote. So much for telling the story sans sexism. This book is far longer than it needs to be. The vast majority of the book isn’t actually about Cleopatra, but about the men in her life and occasionally how she pulled the strings in their lives to get what she wanted. There is little here that wasn’t done by Rome 2,000 years ago. Some of the information is interesting - Cleopatra is Greek, not Egyptian; Cleopatra knew Herod of Israel - but there is not nearly enough of that to float this book or justify its length. I won’t be reading any more by Schiff.

A bit over-rated. Having read rave reviews about Cleopatra, I was eager to read it. Unfortunately, I found it a bit disappointing. I kept feeling like I was reading People Magazine translated from the original hieroglyphics on parchment scrolls!

Where's the Beef?. This book is extraordinary and I want it so much; however, I now plan on buying the hardback version (in the hardback, everything is there) simply for the reason that page notes are not there, nor is there any numbered notes visible. It is interesting to see that there are links to notes imbedded in the text, but the links are only a bit off in text color and may be difficult to pick-up on. I am very disappointed about this situation as I am becoming very attached to reading books on the iPad and will continue to do so. To put this all in perspective: buy Cleopatra in any version you desire - just buy it for a truly incredible read.

My two cents worth. The facts were the same as we have always heard but having such a vivd description of the world and what was going on in it at the time gave the whole story a brand new depth that was wonderful.

Cleopatra A Life. Unbelievably rich history explaining The richest woman in the world's role in the rise of the Roman Empire. Writing Pulitzer worthy.

Cleopatra- superb. Superb and fluid writing. Brings wonderful context, new views based on careful research. A must read.

Where are the illustrations?. Fascinating read, but can't believe the iPad version doesn't include the illustrations. I'm going to have to go to the bookstore now just to look at all the pictures! Still a great read.

A great read. Love her rhetorical style, very engaging, lyrical prose. Refreshing to see beyond the veils to a clear eyed portrait of a remarkable ruler at the end of the ancient world.

Cleofactra. A scholarly work, with language and cadence to match. Beware ( ;-> ), as an iBook, the supporting material, footnotes and photos, are removed from the text in a disjointed way and do not flow well with an electronic book's format.

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Summary of Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

The Cleopatra book written by Stacy Schiff was published on 01 November 2010, Monday in the Biographies & Memoirs category. A total of 676 readers of the book gave the book 4 points out of 5.

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