For over five hundred years the Roman Empire flourished, conquered, and then controlled much of (what was to them) the known world. There are two main reasons why they were able to do this. One reason was the policy of "Romanization" which encouraged the conquered to become part of the empire, while also providing various ways to become Roman citizens. The second reason was the military force that carried out the actual conquest that provided the territories to be "Romanized" and then held those areas. These guys really knew what they were doing (at least most of the time) and did it much better than anyone else at the time. The Roman army is, at the root of it all, the single force that created the greatest empire known in Western civilization and maintained it for half a millennium. Being a bit of a fan of the Roman Empire, and particularly the military, I picked up this book in anticipation of gaining a little more knowledge on the subject. The Imperial Roman Army completely exceeded my expectations. In the preface (to the first edition) the author presents the thesis: "The booklet on the Roman Army created in 1956 for the Grosvenor Museum in Chester was well received and this encouraged me to attempt a longer version." Although I found this thesis rather weak, there can be little doubt that Mr. Webster has achieved his objective. The pamphlet referred to in the previous paragraph was fifty-two pages, a mere pamphlet compared to the two hundred and one eighty-five pages of excellently researched text. Each page of text has very detailed footnotes, which often take up as much space as the text being referenced. Referring to this work as "little more than a compilation... half-sheet... and a keen interest in virtually every aspect of the Roman military in the first two centuries AD, this book is guaranteed to provide what you are looking for, and very more.However, as I said above, I chose this book in anticipation of gaining a little more knowledge about the Roman army. There is no doubt that my eyes were much bigger than my stomach in this choice of material This book is so overly detailed that it is a real challenge to simply sit down and read it. To begin to understand this work, all but the most knowledgeable readers will have to refer to one of the many footnotes, photographs. drawings, graphs, or indexes in virtually every paragraph, and often more than once per paragraph. It is probably best to classify this work as a textbook or reference work rather than as something that is appropriate for recreational reading by. of the normal consumer..