Slavery In The Roman Empire

If you are looking to research slavery in Ancient Rome, and want to read about how slavery and imperialism are good things, actually, when you, like, really think about it, this is the book for you. A pro-colonial, pro-slavery apologia of imperial excess, this book is exactly the kind of thing I mean when I talk about how a lot of UK writing on Ancient Rome treats the Romans like they were direct antecedents of the British Empire (which was, of course, a good thing). I imagine this idea was more popular in a pre-Mussolini world (the book is from 1929), but that's no excuse.

This book is only useful as a testament to the way people used to think, convulsively twisting fact into fiction so they can better lick the boot of an uncaring imperial polity. Nationalism at its worst, this book is a relic of an era that I only wish was more bygone.

If you want an actually thoughtful, well-researched look into the history of Roman slavery, I highly recommend the works of Jerry Toner, who is both a better historian and a better writer.