A few books on Roman history.

[Paddy]

Here are some books that I've read recently or about to read. Right now I am reading "Sempronia the sister of the Grachi", already went through "Death of Carthage" by the same author.

Look at the size of the map that came with "The Forum of Trajan in Rome"!. It's a very detailed coffee table size book, an abridged version of a gigantic three volume work covering even the tiniest detail of Trajan's forum. It's not a book to read in one sitting and one needs to be very interested in architecture to retain all the information. What happened to the monuments and the forum after the fall of the western empire, the history of the excavations and how this enormous building complex relates to the other fora is some of the stuff covered.

Very much looking forward to reading Williams' "Augustus", to get yet another perspective on the first of the princeps. "Rome and environs" is going to be very useful the next time I travel to Rome.

[Tantalus]

From your recommendation I got The Forum of Trajan in Rome. Very nice book. Many reconstructions and detailed maps of The Forum of Trajan. I had always assumed that the Column of Trajan was set in an open area as it's found today. But originally it was set right up against the building of the Basilica Ulpia as on page 109. I like books like this that show reconstructions. And as a medium size paperback it's a manageable size. Often books like this tend to be huge unwieldy hardback books that are so large it's hard to find a place for it. And I can't believe the huge folded map that comes with it. Very unusual.

I saw that the same author has another book, The Roman Forum: A Reconstruction and Architectural Guide coming out in December.

[Paddy]

Yes, there are a lot of reconstructions in Packer's book.

I want to  point out though that according to newer research, earlier archeologists and Packer got the location of the Temple of Trajan wrong.

Ahave understood it the location of the temple is not really certain, but it would seem that we previously had the forum backwards. The entrance according to this newer research is located in the northwest of the forum, on the same side as the column. This would pretty much give Forum of Trajan the same layout as the other fora.
(Source: TTC Experiencing Rome: A Visual Exploration of Antiquity's Greatest Empire)

I also read that there has been traces of Insulae not consistent with a Temple found northwest of the forum.

"Though research has still not precisely determined its site with precision. It had been assumed it was on the site of Palazzo Valentini and that this palazzo had reused stone from the temple in its construction but archaeological excavations there have found no trace of a temple, only remains of insulae with shallower foundations than those needed for a temple. This possibly puts the temple at the centre of the forum courtyard, looking towards the forum of Augustus or elsewhere (some have suggested the two rooms in the Library, though there is evidence against this) and not in a northern position as has previously been commonly accepted by archaeologists for more than a century."
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Trajan

Edit: I still value the book highly for the reasons mentioned in the previuos post. The location of the Basilica Ulpia, Trajan's column and the libraries are not in question.