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Mary Beard

Born 1955
Mary Beard is an English classicist and prolific broadcaster and writer, widely regarded as possibly the most famous classicist alive. Her frequent media appearances and sometimes controversial public statements have led to her being described as "Britain's best-known classicist." She is the author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome (2015), published by Profile Books in the UK and Liveright & Company elsewhere, which appeared on the New York Times hardcover non-fiction bestseller list.
Biographical details sourced from Wikipedia.
On LuvemBooks, we've reviewed SPQR.
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In Mary Beard's own words

Historian Mary Beard discusses her book 'SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome' and why modern perspectives and scientific discoveries continuously reshape our view of Roman history.

Uploaded by The 92nd Street Y, New York, 2016 · Watch on YouTube ·

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On SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

Cover of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

4.4/5

reader rating · 12,388 ratings

Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome is a critically acclaimed work of popular history published in 2015, a New York Times bestseller and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award (Nonfiction), that interrogates Rome's origins, power structures, and multicultural world through close reading of fragmentary evidence rather than a smooth, triumphalist narrative.

Reviewed Feb 28, 2026

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Authors Like Mary Beard
Peter Frankopan

Peter Frankopan

Politics & Society
History
Peter Frankopan's The Silk Roads shares Mary Beard's revisionist energy, recentring world history away from traditional protagonists by using trade routes and overlooked sources.
1 book reviewed
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Yuval Noah Harari

Yuval Noah Harari

History
Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens offers big-picture civilisational history, connecting ancient social structures such as empire, religion, and money to the present in a narrative-driven register.
1 book reviewed
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn

Politics & Society
History
Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States shares Beard's democratic instinct, retelling history from below by centring the enslaved, colonised, and silenced.
1 book reviewed
A People's History of the United States
David Graeber

David Graeber

Politics & Society
History
David Graeber's The Dawn of Everything challenges origin myths with archaeological evidence, presenting historiography as argument just as Mary Beard does.
1 book reviewed
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
James Madison

James Madison

Politics & Society
History
James Madison's The Federalist Papers shifts from narrative Roman history to foundational political theory, examining republican governance and institutional design.
1 book reviewed
The Federalist Papers
A

Alexander Hamilton

Politics & Society
History
Alexander Hamilton’s The Federalist Papers debates constitutional statecraft, drawing on the Roman republican history detailed in Beard's writing.
1 book reviewed
The Federalist Papers