In this book, Garrett Fagan uses comparative historical data and the research and methodologies of social psychology in order to attempt to answer the question ‘Why did the Romans enjoy watching public spectacles of death?’ He critiques as incomplete or unsatisfactory traditional interpretations that explain these rituals as serving cultural functions within Roman society, such as being a symbolic expression of Roman domination over the other, or a reminder of Rome's military heritage. F. argues instead for a more holistic interpretation that takes into account the culturally specific context, but additionally situates the Roman predilection for staging and watching violent entertainments within a broader framework as part of a basic human attraction to and fascination with violence.

One of the strengths of the book is on display in ch. 1, in which F. surveys previous studies of the function of these spectacles, as well as various psychological, sociological and anthropological theories of violence. F. has a knack for clearly, accurately and concisely summarizing an enormous number of debates about (and theoretical approaches to) the study of spectacle and violence without getting bogged down in unwieldy or unnecessary jargon or neologisms. This quality makes the book a potentially useful one for undergraduates, as a wide-ranging and informative introduction to a great many issues relevant to Roman history. Ch. 2, aptly named ‘A Catalog of Cruelty’, presents an eye-opening and rather depressing survey of the impressively varied methods that human beings have devised for publicly mutilating, torturing, and executing one another, from ancient Mesopotamia to the present, complete with vivid descriptions of such ingenious cruelties as the medieval practice of breaking malefactors on the wheel. Chs 3 and 4 marshal an assortment of ancient sources and modern theories to explore the composition, attitudes, and actions of the crowds who filled amphitheatres and other similar ancient venues. There is much of value here, although, occasionally, the analysis could have taken into account subtleties that might complicate the interpretation. For example, when discussing the mental dynamics of crowd responses, there could be more acknowledgement of the fact that there was frequent and deliberate manipulation of audience reaction in ancient Rome through varied means, such as clients and hired claquers. Similarly, recent comparative work on urban rioters suggests that the motives of those participating in violent collective actions are typically not monolithic, but are surprisingly varied and even contradictory. Chs 5 and 6 investigate the rôle that prejudice and emotion played in shaping spectators' reactions, again suggestively weaving together primary texts and social psychology. Employing numerous contemporary examples, the final chapter squarely addresses the apparently irresistible lure that watching violent acts being performed consistently holds for a sizeable percentage of human beings, regardless of culture or historical era. However, considering the amount of time F. spends on various comparative examples of viewing violence drawn from the modern world, including horror and war films and football and hockey games, it is a bit disappointing that there is scant discussion of what is surely the most apt contemporary analogue to Roman spectacles — the bullfight. Unlike almost all of the other examples cited by F., only at bullfights do spectators know with complete certainty that they will witness repeated instances of real (not simulated) death intentionally inflicted with primitive weapons in an agonistic context. Bullfights and gladiator games share many additional intriguing similarities, including the spontaneous and public collaboration of the audience and a sponsor to determine rewards (and occasionally reprieves), as well as deeply-rooted connections with cultural notions of masculinity and national identity.

This book is a welcome attempt to move past some previous scholarly responses to the horrors of the arena, in which the Romans are either simplistically condemned as immoral or portrayed as incomprehensibly alien, or in which the very real bloodshed is sanitized by being hidden behind a theoretical screen of rationalized symbolism. While the evidence presented to demonstrate that there are many people who enjoy observing the suffering of others may not in the end be surprising, this book offers a solid comparative and theoretical framework within which to apply this knowledge to the setting of ancient Rome, and thereby to encourage a more nuanced understanding of the rôle of violent entertainments in Roman history and society. In the past few years there has been a glut of studies about various aspects of Roman spectacles, ranging from investigations into the origins of the amphitheatre to exercises in experimental archaeology that have reconstructed gladiator schools, complete with volunteers fighting one another using replica arms and armour. F.'s clearly written and informative book joins this substantial list and makes a useful contribution to it, as well as demonstrating that the gory spectacles of the Romans continue to exert at least as strong a fascination on modern academics as they apparently did on ancient audiences.