This is a beautifully written book about a potent, malleable and sinister symbol. The volume concludes by saying: 'We are now a full century past the point where one can argue that the primary associations of the fasces are benign'. Every one of us needs to know what happened, and the easiest way to do that is to read Professor Brennan's brilliant book.
T. Corey Brennan is a Professor of Classics at Rutgers University and author of The Praetorship in the Roman Republic and Sabina Augusta: An Imperial Journey. He has appeared on television documentaries that concern the ancient world, most recently for Netflix, BBC2, and the History Channel.