The most recommended books about Gaul

While this is a rather scholarly book with a bit of an intimidating title, I was surprised by how enjoyable of a read it was. 

Through this work, Woolf explores what it meant to be a native to Gaul, the traumatic experience of the Roman conquest (estimates of Gaulish deaths are in the millions), and how the Gauls and Romans shaped the culture of the region moving forward.

With expert skill, Woolf shows that the process of romanization in Gaul was not just a case of Roman forcing the Gauls to act Roman or the Gauls imitating Roman ways to placate their new overlords. Instead, it was a process of cultural give-and-take, in which both sides took on aspects of the other. 

It’s truly fascinating stuff. 

I love all of Peek’s Saint stories, but this one really speaks to me. It’s an action-packed story that starts strong—with great tragedy—and goes deep. While the saints inspire me, biographies don’t suck me in and keep me turning the pages late into the night. This story does, and it brings the saint to life. In some ways, Cloud is an ordinary man. He struggles with grief, fear, anger, doubt, and even jealousy, making him easy to relate to. But he does not rely on his strength alone. He turns to God, grows in his love for God, and rises above his faults, becoming what we are all called to become: a saint! And that’s what inspires me.

The Geography of Risk gets to the heart of why the harm from climate-worsened disasters continues to grow: communities keep building in places destined to burn and flood.

Through first-hand accounts, Gaul exposes how decisions made long ago can trap people in homes and places that are unsafe. Gaul’s investigative reporting confirms what I learned in my years as a policymaker at the White House—that the best-intentioned choices can increase risk exposure exponentially.

The book lays bare how public policy all too often provides perverse incentives to encourage people to live on America’s coastlines despite the great cost to human safety and the economy. 

The difference between an account of history and historical fiction is in the sensory images the writer conjures up for the reader --"You are there!" Searching for everyday details to “set the scene” for the novel, I found a wealth of material in this scholarly discussion of Celtic life, dwelling places and weaponry, clothing, technology, history and culture. Lots of useful illustrations here that brought family bonds and Celtic society to life for me.

I think this is the single best edition of Julius Caesar’s original compositions: the footnotes, maps, battle diagrams, and appendices offer a treasure trove of information for the Roman history buff without overwhelming the casual reader.

(I had a particular interest in Appendix C, on “Roman Calendars, Dates, and Time,” where I learned that the main reason winter operations rarely occurred in ancient warfare was the inability to feed their animals.)

The translations struck me as contemporary sounding yet never sacrifice accuracy for clarity. I recommend this book as a perfect gateway for the fan of ancient Rome to enter the realm of authentic ancient Roman literature.

It’s en vogue right now for people to joke about men constantly thinking about the Roman Empire, and this book may be one of the best insights into why that is.

Taken from Caesar’s own diaries during his conquest and pacification of Gaul (what is now Germany, Belgium, France, and even his first conquest to England), this book outlines his strategy, thinking, and leadership style. Like Alexander the Great, Caesar fought alongside his men, and would do everything that he could (like Alexander) to convince enemies to surrender or forgo battles where his army didn’t have the upper hand to ensure his men weren’t needlessly harmed.

The passage included within this book of Caesar building a bridge in three days over a previously impassible river so that his army could cross, only to have his engineers tear it down after crossing to show the warring tribes why they shouldn’t pick… show more.

As someone who has deep ties to Mother Earth and the outdoors, this book spoke to my soul whose roots are attached to some primitive calling.

Apela shares her lifelong journey of connecting with the essence of indigenous spirituality and culture and her passionate work to communicate, conserve, and celebrate sacred indigenous ways.

It made me think about the cost of living in our modern world and how healing Earth begins from within.

What I have always loved about the study of the past, and what I attempt to develop more than anything else in my students, is the ability to read and analyze texts, and seeking the truth about a period, come to one’s own conclusions.

This collection, prepared by perhaps the greatest living expert on the subject - that is Gaul (essentially France) in the early Middle Ages - and one of my own scholarly mentors, allows readers to directly encounter sources from the time, produced by people of the time. And what a time! The period from c.300–c.700 is one of the most fascinating in human history. The complex processes in play in the transitional world of Late Antiquity in the West in that era - no mere “Dark Age,” subsequent to a “Decline and Fall” of Rome - mean that there is always more to discover and new perspectives… show more.

Another golden oldie (from 1911) but seriously, most of the older books were written with a level of seriousness, diligence, and rigorousness that is sadly lacking in many of the modern books on Druidism – which I find frequently regurgitate or recapitulate fairly recent earlier books from the mid-late 20th century, often without delving into the original source material.

This book, again, is not exclusively about Druids but more generally about the religious culture of the Celts across Gaul, Britain, and Ireland. Even so, it is an immensely informative book, albeit somewhat difficult to read because of the fairly archaic style of the writing. As with other somewhat challenging books – the pay-off is certainly more than worth the effort.

This was the first book that made me realize druids had been real, and that entire belief system was nearly—in historical chronology—stamped out by the Roman Empire. The story focuses on a young druid, Ainvar, who befriends Vercingetorix, the Celtic warrior who was brought to Rome in chains by Julius Caesar. While the setting is in Gaul, I began to understand the beliefs of the druid life that was very nearly lost. Where Rome’s war with the druids of Gaul was bloody and decisive, the Irish conversion took a different path. I wanted to find out why the two histories, the change from druid to Christian, was so dramatically different.