THE SHADOW OF VESUVIUS

When Pliny the Elder perished at Stabiae during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, he left behind an enormous compendium of knowledg e, his thirty-seven-volume Natural History, and a teenaged nephew who revered him as a father. Grieving his loss, Pliny the Younger inherited the Elders notebooks?filled with pearls of wisdom?and his legacy. At its heart, The Shadow of Vesuvius is a literary biog raphy of the younger man, who would grow up to become a lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, and chronicler of the Roman Empi re from th...[Read more]