The History of Ancient Rome from the perspective of the "masses", women, and homosexuals.
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The Assassination of Julius Caesar:
A People's History of Ancient Rome
by Michael Parenti

This work by an Italian American political scientist recounts the history of the last days of the Roman Republic very much as Antonio Gramsci might tell it. Every reader interested in the intellectual history of Italy and of Italian America during the past century ought to read this book.

Most historians, both ancient and modern, have viewed the Late Republic of Rome  through the eyes of its rich nobility. They regard Roman commoners as a parasitic mob, a rabble interested only in bread and circuses. They cast Caesar, who took up the popular cause, as a despot and demagogue, and treat his murder as the outcome of a personal feud or constitutional struggle, devoid of social content.

In The Assassination of Julius Caesar, the distinguished author Michael Parenti subjects these assertions of "gentlemen historians" to a bracing critique, and presents us with a compelling story of popular resistance against entrenched power and wealth.

Parenti shows that Caesar was only the last in a line of reformers, dating back across the better part of a century, who were murdered by opulent conservatives.

Caesar's assassination set in motion a protracted civil war, the demise of a five-hundred-year Republic, and the emergence of an absolutist rule that would prevail over Western Europe for centuries to come.

Parenti reconstructs the social and political context of Caesar's murder, offering fascinating details about Roman society. In these pages we encounter money-driven elections, the struggle for economic democracy, the use of religion as an instrument of social control, the sexual abuse of slaves, and the political use of homophobic attacks.

Here is a story of empire and corruption, patriarchs and subordinated women,
self-enriching  and plundered provinces, slumlords and urban rioters, death squads and political witchhunts.

Michael Parenti received his Ph.D. in science from Yale University. He has taught at a number of colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. His books have been translated into Bangla, Chinese, Dutch, German, Greek, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.

His books include
The Terrorism Trap<http://michaelparenti.org/TerrorismTrap.html>
Democracy for the Few <http://michaelparenti.org/DemocracyForFew.html>
To Kill a Nation <http://michaelparenti.org/ToKillANation.html> (2001)
History as Mystery <http://michaelparenti.org/HistoryAsMystery.html> (1999) America Besieged <http://michaelparenti.org/AmericaBesieged.html> (1998) Blackshirts and Reds <http://michaelparenti.org/BlackShirts.html> (1997)
Dirty Truths <http://michaelparenti.org/DirtyTruths.html> (1996)
Against Empire <http://michaelparenti.org/AgainstEmpire.html> (1995)
Inventing Reality <http://michaelparenti.org/InventingReality.html> (2nd ed, 1993) Land of Idols <http://michaelparenti.org/LandOfIdols.html> (1993)
Make-Believe Media <http://michaelparenti.org/MakeBelieveMedia.html (1992)
The Sword and the Dollar <http://michaelparenti.org/SwordAndDollar.html> (1989).

Some 250 articles of his have appeared in CovertAction Quarterly, Z Magazine, New Political Science, Monthly Review, The Humanist, Dollars and Sense, the Nation, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and numerous other publications For further information see www.michaelparenti.org

*steerage is a program of the Italian American Writers Association. Each month IAWA chooses a book for this program. IAWA asks readers of this Newsletter to visit their bookstores and buy or order a copy of this book, to read it, to ask their local, school, college, and university libraries to order copies.

Presentation by Robert Viscusi
New York University Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò
24 West 12th Street
Wednesday, October 1, 2003, 6 to 8 pm
Admission Free