In this book, Adam Kolman Marshak synthesizes an admirable array of both primary sources and current scholarship on Herod the Great with a light enough touch to be accessible even to the uninitiated. In contrast to studies that emphasize Herod's brutality, or in other ways treat him as an aberration from the norms of his context, M.’s main thesis is that Herod succeeded because he was adept in presenting a public persona that fulfilled the cultural expectations of a king in his position. Herod was a ‘political chameleon’ who knew how to appeal to multiple audiences (312, 334). The opening chapters define these audience expectations under the three rubrics of Roman client kingship, Hellenistic monarchical virtues and the combination of Judean royal and priestly traditions in Hasmonean political ideology (chs 1–3). The next three chapters illustrate Herod's skill in these three modes of ‘self-presentation’ by tracing his success in negotiating political rivalries up to the Augustan period (chs 4–6). The following chapters are case studies in M.’s main thesis, such as the expression of Herod's public persona in the education of his children, Romanization of the military, development of trade networks, architectural preferences, building programmes and patronage of Greeks and Judeans both inside and outside his kingdom (chs 7–11).

Following the concluding summary (ch. 12) are two appendices on Herod's coinage. The space devoted to numismatics at this point and in earlier chapters is one of the book's most helpful contributions to ongoing scholarly debates, whether or not one is fully persuaded by every detail of M.’s carefully nuanced proposals. These include arguments reaffirming conclusions M. had reached in earlier studies in which he dated Herod's ‘Year Three’ coins to 27 b.c.e., rather than 37 b.c.e. M.’s proposal that the coins in question were produced for a congiarium (beneficence of royal gifts to the public) is an especially cogent suggestion for this group and possibly even for other coins minted by Herod, regardless of their mint date (156–64).

One of the benefits of using the public persona of Herod as the organizing theme for the book is that it alleviated M. from the tendencies toward tedious circularity and untestable hypotheses that are so typical of psychological approaches and studies of questions related to Herod's personal piety and internal motives (xxii–xxix). M. does make judicious comments on these and other traditional problems (284–300). However, a firmer footing for more defensible arguments was provided by M.’s shift to the more demonstrable public presentation of Herod as it is attested in archaeological, epigraphic, numismatic and literary sources. Most scholars will agree that M. has made an excellent choice in prioritizing the three modes of Roman, Hellenistic and Judean public presentation as sub-categories for his main thesis. Any who might be tempted to see these three as an over-simplification have little to criticize, because M. pays at least some attention to relationships with Idumaean and other traditions that imply more complexity in Herod's public persona (78–89, 134–36). Perhaps the most cogent argument in support of M.’s approach is that it is genuinely illuminating. Even the rather well ploughed topic of Herod's work on the Jerusalem temple complex acquires a fresh vitality when viewed in terms of how it addressed Roman, Hellenistic and Judean audiences (ch. 11).

The book is consistent in its quality and reliable in its details. Minor slips are of course inevitable in any book of this scope, such as the use of the construct ‘Herod Agrippa’ to refer to Herod's grandson Marcus Julius Agrippa (8, 10, 12 etc.). These are more than offset by the frequent nuggets of insight and intriguing proposals that demand a re-evaluation of the less nuanced approaches often found in previous scholarship. For example, in his treatment of the use of Hasmonean names and Hasmonean architectural traditions in Herod's fortresses and palaces, M. makes a persuasive case that the primary audience addressed by these features was not so much the masses of Herod's Judean subjects and visitors, but rather a relatively small group of local Judean élites and members of Herod's own court (116–24). Typically such arguments in the text are complemented by more technical discussions and extensive bibliography in the footnotes, which reference specialized studies of a wider range of issues than could be explored in a book of moderate length. This allows M.’s book to serve as an ideal summary of the state of the question on a number of topics. The maps, illustrations and archaeological site plans are not extensive or large, but they are of good quality, well chosen and appropriate in number for the length and goals of the book. In sum, this book is to be highly recommended as an enjoyable and trustworthy introduction to modern research on Herod for a wide range of general readers, beginning students and more advanced historians.