In 1909, intellectual superstar Guglielmo Ferrero toured the northeast of the USA, accepted an honorary degree, and lectured about Roman history. These lectures were published in book form as
Characters and Events of the Roman Empire. The book presents a lively selection of people and events: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, the Emperor Nero-and a chapter about the importance of wine to the growth of Rome. Ferrero argued that 'Rome is in the mental field the strongest bond that holds together the most diverse peoples of Europe.’
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Born in 1871 in a middle-class Italian family, Guglielmo Ferrero began his academic life as a law student and student radical in Pisa. In 1908, invited by President Theodore Roosevelt, Ferrero visited the United States and gave the lectures that form this book. With the rise of Mussolini, Ferrero became an opposition figure in Italy. Allowed to leave Italy in 1930, Ferrero became a professor of contemporary history in the University of Geneva, a post he held until his death in 1942.