Pax Romana: War, Peace, and Conquest in the Roman World

Best-selling author Adrian  Goldsworthy turns his attention to the Pax Romana, the famous peace and  prosperity brought by the Roman Empire at its height in the first and  second centuries AD. Yet the Romans were conquerors, imperialists who  took by force a vast empire stretching from the Euphrates to the  Atlantic coast. Ruthless, Romans won peace not through coexistence but  through dominance; millions died and were enslaved during the creation  of their empire.

Pax Romana examines how the Romans came to control so much of  the world and asks whether traditionally favorable images of the Roman  peace are true. Goldsworthy vividly recounts the rebellions of the  conquered and examines why they broke out, why most failed, and how they  became exceedingly rare. He reveals that hostility was just one  reaction to the arrival of Rome and that from the outset, conquered  peoples collaborated, formed alliances, and joined invaders, causing  resistance movements to fade away.