I’ll admit it, I’m a history nerd.  I enjoy reading and listening to a well-done history book as much as I do reading something by David Drake or Larry Correia.  When Audible had a buy one, get one free sale last month, I got a Great Courses lecture course and Hannibal: One Man Against Rome, written by Harold Lamb and narrated by Charlton Griffin.  This is a narrative history piece about the life of Hannibal Barca, the great Carthaginian general of the Second Punic War.

This is not a “in such and such a year, so many soldiers marched so many kilometers to reach such and such a place.”  This is a narrative history of what formed Hannibal, his campaigns against Rome in Spain, Italy, and Africa, and his decline and death.  It is paced well, and Griffin’s reading is spot-on.  This is not a book for historians, but it is perfect for history nerds.  If you enjoyed Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History episode “Punic Nightmares”, you will probably enjoy this work.

My only quibble with this production has to do with the music and sound effects, which occur at the beginning and ending of most chapters.  I can see where the producers were trying to go with it, but they added little to the book, and sometimes seemed contrived.

Griffin’s narration, like I said, was outstanding and exactly right for this book.  The image I had in my mind was of an English gentleman, wearing tweed and enjoying his pipe, recounting the life of Hannibal, and it fit perfectly with the manner of Lamb’s writing.

If you’re into history, but aren’t looking for all the dates, places, and statistics to be thrown at you, you’ll enjoy this one.