And a few reasons why it came out in paperback after one year:

“Karl Galinsky presents a bold new interpretive synthesis of Augustan culture, one that everyone in the field needs to take into account.  The broad scope of the book, together with its sense and sensitivity, should guarantee it a mainstream readership as well.”
Andrew Wallace-Hadrill
Director, British School at Rome

Philip Hardie in Gnomon: “In a short review it is not possible to do full justice to the richness, erudition, and intelligence of this book, which should be pressed into the hands of students to be read and reread, savoured, and, not least, argued over.”

Journal of Roman Studies:  “A rich book, beautiful, with lovely, sharp illustrations, its auctor a bearer of auctoritas in this field, possessing the rare faculty to respond to literary and visual stimuli with equal sensitivity and disposing of all the learning appropriate to his vast theme.  The main standard Roman visual and literary monuments of the Augustan age are commented on and related to each other. . . this super book.”

Bryn Mawr Classical Review:  “The book, far from simply surveying the various departments of culture during a certain period, advances an interpretation of that culture as a whole, an interpretation that proves to be strong, serious, and weightily argued. . . The book is so useful for its collection and presentation of material that no one interested in Augustan Rome should fail to read it.”

New England Classical Journal::  “Galinsky has made a complex argument highly accessible, and in doing so has provided a valuable addition to the bookshelf of any humanities teacher.  The presentation is crystal clear, the several theses are strongly argued, the grasp of the scholarship masterful.  Galinsky offers translations of all the Greek and Latin he quotes and illustrations of all the artwork he discusses. (The color plates are beautifully reproduced).  The Western Civilization Instructor who needs an intelligent and comprehensive survey of the field and the specialist who wants a synthesis to adopt or resist will find much to learn from and enjoy.”

Gymnasium:  “A successful, highly readable introduction to Augustan culture.”

Vergilius:  “An important book that will be of use to scholars and students alike, one that is interpretive in approach, provocative in argumentation, and personal in energy and commitment.”

Peter Wiseman in TLS: “A splendid book.”

Third printing 2007; work on updated second edition will begin in late 2011.