SKU: 73662033637

How to Be a Bad Emperor: An Ancient Guide to Truly Terrible Leaders

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How to Be a Bad Emperor: An Ancient Guide to Truly Terrible LeadersWhat would Caligula do? What the worst Roman emperors can teach us about how not to lead If recent history has taught us anything, it's that sometimes the best guide to leadership is the negative example. But that insight is hardly new. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Suetonius wrote Lives of the Caesars, perhaps the greatest negative leadership book of all time. He was ideally suited to write about terrible political leaders; after all, he was also the

What would Caligula do? What the worst Roman emperors can teach us about how not to lead

If recent history has taught us anything, it's that sometimes the best guide to leadership is the negative example. But that insight is hardly new. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Suetonius wrote Lives of the Caesars, perhaps the greatest negative leadership book of all time. He was ideally suited to write about terrible political leaders; after all, he was also the author of Famous Prostitutes and Words of Insult, both sadly lost. In How to Be a Bad Emperor, Josiah Osgood provides crisp new translations of Suetonius's briskly paced, darkly comic biographies of the Roman emperors Julius Caesar, Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero. Entertaining and shocking, the stories of these ancient anti-role models show how power inflames leaders' worst tendencies, causing almost incalculable damage.

Complete with an introduction and the original Latin on facing pages, How to Be a Bad Emperor is both a gleeful romp through some of the nastiest bits of Roman history and a perceptive account of leadership gone monstrously awry. We meet Caesar, using his aunt's funeral to brag about his descent from gods and kings--and hiding his bald head with a comb-over and a laurel crown; Tiberius, neglecting public affairs in favor of wine, perverse sex, tortures, and executions; the insomniac sadist Caligula, flaunting his skill at cruel put-downs; and the matricide Nero, indulging his mania for public performance.

In a world bristling with strongmen eager to cast themselves as the Caesars of our day, How to Be a Bad Emperor is a delightfully enlightening guide to the dangers of power without character.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 02/04/2020
ISBN: 9780691193991
Pages: 312
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 6.90h x 4.70w x 1.20d
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SKU: 73662033637

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Good quality, but a few issues with the hidden mounts and levelness.
Size: 35x7 2Pcs, Color: Black, Size: 35x7 2Pcs, Color: Black
These are quite nice and also sturdy. Only complaint I have is that I bought a couple of these, and on one of them, only one of them, it was difficult to get the hidden mounts to go into the holes. I think it was probably a manufacturing defect thing. Also, on that particular one, it wasnt as level as the other. Not a show stopper, but if you need a perfectly level type of mounting situation, I would be careful here.
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Great value/easy to install.
Size: 24x6 2Pcs, Color: Black, Size: 24x6 2Pcs, Color: Black
Great product and great value. Easy to install and adds a nice touch to a bathroom.
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Size: 31x7 2Pcs, Color: Black
Great size and easy to hang. Have purchased many for my home.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2026
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Look great!
Size: 40x7 2Pcs, Color: Black
Love the way these turned out in my office! I connected 3 shelves in a row across the wall to make one long shelf and it looks great!
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Chris snyder
Phoenix, US
★★★★★ 3
Nice looking. Not very sturdy. Easy to install.
Size: 40x7 2Pcs, Color: White, Size: 40x7 2Pcs, Color: White
Update: The shelf slopes at about a 45° angle when you put anything more than about a pound on the outside edge of it. Perfectly fine up against the wall. Just seems like the braces inside aren't long enough to really give the stability needed. Bracket is nice and tight against the wall. Had to add braces underneath to hold a small plant, a photo and a small container. Wa sloping more and more each week The shelves look great and we're pretty easy to install. They have a single bracket that is very easy to mount to the wall and get nice and level.. The downside is that the bracket isn't long enough to go between studs. This seems like a pretty simple oversight. I mean why wouldn't you make it long enough to go stud to stud? Secondly and maybe more fatally the bars that go inside the shelf to support them coming out from the wall are significantly shorter than the depth of the shelf. Unfortunately this means the shelf is only supported the first few inches coming out from the wall so there is the potential for a slight lean forward.. The anchors they send are trash. Cheap soft plastic that just tears and bends with a screwdriver. I would suggest spending $2 and grabbing your own anchors from Ace or home Depot. The shelves are essentially made of a high grade cardboard kind of wood. They are not going to support much weight or last for years and years however there incredibly affordable and look nice and easy to install. Long as your expectations are right you'll be happy.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2023

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