This new addition to the Oxford Handbook series represents the reshaping of the study of Roman Britain by what might be termed the TRAC generation. Like TRAC (and indeed like the subject of Roman Britain), the volume is challenging and important, as well as being occasionally frustrating. Dedicated to Richard Reece, it explicitly proclaims its difference from previous standard works on Roman Britain and eschews a chronological approach in favour of a structure based around four broad thematic sections. Space does not permit detailed discussion of the book's 41 chapters, written by a healthy mix of established and early career scholars, but I will provide a brief summary before highlighting some broader themes.

Part I (The Nature of the Evidence) initially traces the development of the discipline from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century (Hingley, Millett and Wilson), the development of artefact studies (Swift), and the relationship between texts and archaeology (Hurst). Chapters on the early Roman horizon (Wallace) and the end of Empire (Esmonde-Cleary), are followed by Champion on pre-Roman Britain, a puzzling segue perhaps only explained by the determination to avoid chronological order. The focus then diverges with chapters on Scotland (Hunter), mobility and migration (Eckardt and Müldner, and also Ivleva), multiculturalism on Hadrian's Wall (Nesbitt), and interactions with Gaul and Germany (T. Moore). These later chapters rather merge into Part II, ostensibly on Society and the Individual, which commences with epigraphy (Hope) and then moves to childhood (Gowland), the lifecourse (A. Moore), funerary evidence (Pearce, Crerar and Weekes), gender (Sherratt and A. Moore), clothing (Cool) and military identity and culture (Haynes and Allason-Jones respectively).

Part III (Forms of Knowledge) reflects the new material culture that is introduced in the Roman period (Gardner), including pottery technology (Evans) and metal-working (Dungworth). Medicine (Baker) is followed by sociolinguistics (Mullen), art (Croxford) and religion (chapters by Zoll, Smith and Petts). Kamash concludes the section with a discussion of memory of the prehistoric past.

Part IV (Landscape and Economy) contains some of the more traditional aspects of Roman Britain such as landscape and villas (Millett) and towns (Rogers and Revell), and there is a clear sense that their placement towards the end of the book is a deliberate attempt to reduce their previously dominant position in the subject. The agricultural economy is discussed by Maltby (exploitation of animals) and Van der Veen (arable farming and horticulture), as well as the monetary economy (Walton and Moorhead), although it is interesting that these areas are not considered ‘Forms of Knowledge’ in the same way as metal-working or medicine. The volume finishes with a discussion by Gerrard on economic power in late Roman Britain.

The book covers a vast subject area but some recurrent themes emerge. Gender (in both the past and the present) is a focus of several papers. Sherratt and A. Moore's useful introduction to the topic brings in familiar examples like the tombstone of Regina as well as lesser-known material such as the presence of squatting facets on tibia from Poundbury that suggest that it was women who were primarily using quernstones. Swift notes the gender divides inherent in artefact studies, which she argues were often regarded as ‘women's work’. Gender is also a key factor in other topics, for example frontier life (Allason-Jones) and cemeteries (where Pitts explores the skeletal health of urban and rural populations by gender). It is also notable that, whether by accident or design (and either is a positive sign for the discipline), the male/female split of chapter authors is more-or-less even (23:20).

A second theme is the increasing recognition of regional diversity and complexity, not least beyond Hadrian's Wall (Hunter), and the volume makes it clear that engaging with Rome was subject to constantly changing localised variation. This encompasses for example religious practice (Zoll and Smith), including that associated with Christianity (Petts), the uptake of Latin (Mullen) and epigraphy (Hope), and funerary practice (Pearce, Smith and Weekes).

The increased potential of scientific analysis of human remains, particularly through study of aDNA and stable isotopes for understanding population movement, health, diet, childhood and other aspects of the lifecourse, has driven some of the most significant research in recent years, and this is well-represented here in the papers of Eckardt and Müldner, Gowland, A. Moore, and Pitts. It is striking how prominently the cemeteries of Lankhills and Poundbury still feature in these discussions and it is clear that modern excavations of further large cemeteries have considerable potential to expand our knowledge in this area. The inhumation evidence is also obviously heavily slanted towards the late Roman period and fundamental obstacles remain to understanding aspects such as health and mobility for earlier periods or the nature of change from the Iron Age.

The book's idiosyncratic structure (not least the decentralising of towns, forts and villas) is a worthwhile attempt to represent the changes that have taken place in the discipline over the last 30 years. The sense of it jumping between subjects and the occasional repetition between chapters will be less apparent to most readers who are unlikely to consume the volume as an 895-page whole. The choice of material for inclusion is also intriguing. I was struck by the fact that the index has entries for androcentrism but not for amphorae and it could be argued that the emphasis on representing a reshaped discipline has led to some lacunae in the volume. Hadrian's Wall, for example, is discussed as a ‘contested landscape of polyvocalities’ (Nesbitt) but is nowhere examined as a military frontier. Such topics are certainly well-covered in other publications but the same could be said for much of the material included in this volume.

With over 40 authors, there is considerable diversity in approach and in the writers’ expectations of their readers’ levels of knowledge. Many of the chapters will serve as good primers for undergraduate students or an informed general readership. Others, however, require considerable prior understanding of the topics. The limited level of illustration allowed by the Oxford Handbook format is frustrating throughout, and means, for example, that Croxford's chapter on art does not allow the reader to see any of the items he is discussing.

Notwithstanding these small criticisms, the editors should be congratulated on a major work that clearly shows how the scholarship of recent years has populated Roman Britain with individuals whose decisions and aspirations are reflected in the archaeological record.