Classicists have traditionally been guilty of ignoring 99 per cent of the population of the Roman Empire: this lively, politically committed book is an attempt to make good this deficiency. Toner is generally happy to overlook the vast discrepancies between the enormous and diverse mass of people encompassed by this 99 per cent in order to analyse popular culture (‘the culture of the non-elite’) ‘as a whole’. This is a hugely ambitious project and the result is an original and provocative book with much to offer a wide readership.

T. avoids organizing his material under typical themes and categories and instead, after a brief introduction, takes us to the subject of ‘Problem Solving’ (ch. 1). This chapter looks at the strategies by which the non-élite dealt with the many problems besetting them. T. is always clear that life for ‘the people’ in the Roman world was difficult and often miserable and here discusses the need for ‘risk management strategies’, such as gambling and ‘popular religion’ (a concept which needs more critical attention), in order to cope with the uncertainties of existence. The next chapter takes us to the less ‘rational’ sphere, looking at the issue of ancient ‘Mental Health’, presenting a picture of life in the ancient Roman world as suffused with social stress. The non-élite only really start enjoying themselves in ch. 3: ‘The World Turned Bottom Up’. Perhaps inevitably, T. invokes Bakhtin's work on Carnival in order to analyse distinctively popular modes of amusement, with a special focus on the Saturnalia. The traditional theme of ‘bread and circuses’ is given a new spin here (albeit familiar from T.'s previous work on ancient leisure) with a political analysis of the development of the Games in the early Principate. Much fascinating material is contained in ch. 4, which aims to give ‘a sensory history of the Roman non-elite’, looking at smell, touch and noise, and arguing, persuasively, that the Roman élite managed to construct an exclusive ‘cordon sanitaire around high culture’ (132). The subject of popular resistance is dealt with in ch. 5 (and it is perhaps no coincidence that this is the shortest chapter!). T. makes good use of James C. Scott's work, which shows that acts of resistance need not be large-scale, dramatic, or even open, in order to be categorized as such. The final chapter, and conclusion, looks at the late antique world, suggesting that in the conversion of Constantine we can read an attempt of dominant culture to incorporate an oppositional subculture, even if such an attempt would never be fully successful.

There is much food for thought in this book. It is packed full of fascinating snippets from the ancient world as well as provocative contemporary examples. Despite being theoretically savvy, it is admirably free from jargon and has much to offer a wide readership. The political commitment with which T. has written the book gives it a bite and a zest missing from so many books on ancient history. There is much, inevitably, with which to argue. Fundamentally, how far we can really posit separate and discrete ‘élite’ and ‘popular’ cultures in antiquity remains a moot point and of course T. is alert to this (see e.g. 186: ‘we should be careful not to create a chasm between the classes’). The late antique material owes rather too much to Peter Brown, especially his work from the 1970s, and many will not wish to agree with the claim that the period saw ‘an explosion of psychiatric expression’ (87). Most disappointing, for this reviewer, is the absence of attention given to visual culture, even in the fascinating chapter on sensory history. Illustrations given are just that, and go largely undiscussed. The culture of the ancient non-élite was a visual culture, and it is a real shame that, just like Nicholas Horsfall in his innovative study of the culture of the Roman plebs, this crucial aspect goes unexamined. However, this is a highly stimulating book, which manages to be both accessible and original, and it is to be hoped that it will encourage more work and debate.