I am not someone who regularly engages with long historical texts, but I had the chance to read this in a history course on Pompeii. Beard focuses on highlighting everyday stories, painting a clear picture of 'daily life', engaging in its relatability. As a person new to history in a more academic setting, I felt guided along the way by explanations of methodology and inference. It's heavy with detail, which can be either captivating or dry, sometimes depending on how you felt waking up.

Reading this was literally life-changing, with the caveat that my life hasn't been very long. Not just because my perspective on Pompeii changed (I didn't know much about it prior), but as an introduction to historical academic texts this was wonderful.