"High entertainment." –
The New York Times Book Review
"A subtle, provoking, enthralling book. . . . Vidal's ability to invoke a world is amazing." –
The Christian Science Monitor "Simply great. . . . A truly monumental novel." –
Associated Press "Historical fiction in the true, honorable sense. . . . Full of vivid, richly wrought fictional detail." –
The Wall Street Journal "Impressive. . . . To the formidable task which Vidal sets himself, he brings an easy and fluent gift for narrative; a theatrical sense of scene and dramatic occasion; and a revealing eye and ear for character delineation-to say nothing of wide reading." -
Newsweek
"A real hero. . . . An excellent book." -
Chicago Daily News
"Gore Vidal has the sharpest sense of what political power consists of, how it is achieved and what it does to a man. And at the same time he is funny, roaringly funny. . . .
Julian is a brilliant beacon of light in the dim grey landscape of the historical novel." -Louis Auchincloss
"A brilliant study of Julian's era. . . . That rare historical novel which enjoys all the virtues of good history and good fiction." -
Washington Star
"No odder figure ever guided the destinies of the Roman Empire than the Emperor Julian Augustus. Here was a recluse and a scholar who became a great military leader, an ascetic who preached the life of the senses, a fatalist who believed he would remake the world. . . . He is endlessly fascinating." -
Time
