I'm looking for a book or two to give me an overview of the Roman Republic (having already looked on the booklist!). I'll probably read and then some books on Caesar and Augustus, so trying to cover the things that won't be covered in good Caesar biographies etc.
As context this is part of trying to get something like a very broad/narrative overview of starting with ancient Greece and moving forward into European/Western/World history (I realised my knowledge of history had centuries with complete gaps!). I've most recently been reading about the Hellenistic Period, especially Peter Green's Alexander to Actium and shortly will be following up with Eckstein's Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome, Polybius's histories and Carthage Must be Destroyed (or similar).
For obvious reasons I'm shifting focus to Rome for next little while, and while I'm 'meeting them' in the Hellenistic period I want to double back and understand their roots better. Both in broad 'what happened' narrative terms and some sense of relevant cultural/structural issues especially if they remain helpful to understanding the Empire. My current knowledge of Roman history is more or less limited to the contents of Mike Duncan's History of Rome podcast.
Massively grateful for completely new suggestions and/or comments on the following which is my current shortlist
Scullard A History of the Roman World: 753 to 146 BC (has the nice touch that if I like it I can follow up with 'from the Gracchi to Nero')
Lomas The Rise of Rome: From the Iron Age to the Punic Wars (1000 BC – 264 BC) (ends quite early but Polybius and Carthage must be destroyed should pick up where this leaves off)
Dillon Ancient Rome: From the early Republic to the assassination of Julius Caesar (this is a 'sourcebook' and I'm slightly unclear on if that means it's a terrible choice as the only one!
Crawford The Roman Republic (Fontana History). This is by far the cheapest (second hand) but also shorter (only 250 pages, but I wish Amazon did word counts instead!) and a bit older
Many thanks in advance!
For very early Rome, a fantastic book is Gary Forsythe, Critical History of Early Rome (2005).
For the Middle Republic, especially the Punic Wars, see the volume edited by Hoyos, A Companion to the Punic Wars (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). The name of this series makes it sound a bit shallow, but it is anything but. This one has great articles by such scholars as Erdkamp, Hans Beck, and Nathan Rosenstein. There are also a million of these "Companion to" books, all by Wiley-Blackwell, and all good. Similarly are the "Cambridge Companion to <whatever>" which are also good, and also have a silly name. There is one for the Roman Republic edited by Harriet Flower.
For all the basics of Roman political structure, my go-to is Lintott, Constitution of the Roman Republic (Clarendon 1999).
For the late Republic, you might consider Erich Gruen, The Last Generation of the Roman Republic (Berkeley 1974). I'd also recommend Millar, The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution (2002). Rosenstein and Morstein-Marx have another "Companion" book for the Late Republic as well.