During the centuries of its history the republic burst its city-state shell… Wars, rural impoverishment, the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few families, civil discord, the increase in number of slaves and robbery of overseas provinces caused irreversible changes… This is the material of Crawford’s study. He handles its complexities with acuteness and balance. He is sophisticated about political motives and economic causes… Crawford’s readable book is a fine contribution to the understanding of this important period.
-- Times Higher Education Supplement

Well-informed, lively… The work conveys a remarkable quantity of information… Students will benefit greatly from Crawford’s obvious enthusiasm for historical research and for finding explanations of complex phenomena.
-- Journal of Roman Studies

Together these five compact volumes [Early Greece by Oswyn Murray, Democracy and Classical Greece by J. K. Davies, The Hellenistic World by F. W. Walbank, The Roman Republic by Michael Crawford, and The Roman Empire by Colin Wells, in addition to the newly published The Later Roman Empire by Averil Cameron] cover much of the history of the classical world, and do so with both ease and authority… For this new series they have been revised or otherwise brought up to date.
-- Washington Post Book World