I find some nonfiction books difficult to break in to, but once I’m invested I’m usually hooked for the rest of the book. This history of Carthage presented almost the opposite problem for me. Opening the book with the final sack of the city by Roman forces is riveting history and also makes for a great hook in the introduction. I was enthralled from page one. After that however, the author lost me for a bit and didn’t really recapture my full attention until the Punic Wars (even the best non-fiction writers can only make ancient commerce and mercenary contracts just so interesting). That being said, the author does a difficult job (writing the history of ancient civilization based on archeology and almost exclusively hostile primary sources) well and history fans will find everything they’re looking for. I particularly enjoyed Miles’ willingness to tackle historical prejudices that have been passed along as fact; Hannibal crossing the Alps was not as crazy an idea as it may seem, the Romans and Carthaginians were not mortal enemies from their inception, etc.

One final, quibbling point: you could make a party game out of this book by having your guests take a drink every time the author mentions the Heracles/Hercules myths, everyone would be on the floor by the end of the second chapter, but you could do it. I don’t disagree with Richard Miles’ case that the Herculean legends were important in Greek colonization and in Carthage in particular, but the extent to which he revisits this topic over and over again felt…labored.