Not sure if this sort of question is permitted on this subreddit, but recently, I was looking into getting Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. Is this particular book a good comprehensive text on Rome, or are there better alternatives?
Mind you, I'm not looking to get an incredibly nuanced, multi-volume set on Rome. I'm looking for a broad but detailed book on Rome.
Thanks!
You might be interested in our book list with reading recommendations on Ancient Rome!
This depends a lot on what you're looking for. SPQR does not give an overview of Rome: it considers a series of interesting lenses/topics/issues but doesn't give you a sense of the whole.
I suspect to be honest that it would be difficult to get a single volume covering in any detail the entire history of Rome (from foundation to traditional ending in 476). There's simply too much to dig into!
If you're looking for a birds eye view with a bit of context, one introductory book I really enjoyed and you might be interested in is Egypt, Greece and Rome by Charles Freeman. And yes, this resolves 'the subject is too big' by expanding it, but I think the Mediterranean context is crucial and I found the book engaging and enjoyable as well as being (as far as I know) reasonably robust for that sort of intro book.