This volume collects ten pieces written since 2000, with most dating from the first decade of the new millennium. The unifying feature and theme of the volume is their shared origin: all derive from papers delivered under the aegis of the Centro Studi Sallustiani at L'Aquila (a few miles from Sallust's birthplace of Amiternum). The book's expressed purpose, as set out in a brief preface, is to serve as a testament to the work of the Centro over the first two decades of its existence, part of a relaunch of the centre and its activities. Eight of the ten contributions have been previously published, some in the centre's own Quaderni Sallustiani, and in one case (Marcone's look at the reception of Sallust by Concetto Marchesi) as recently as 2020; one contains minor revisions including an updated bibliography taking into account research up to 2020, but the rest are apparently as originally published (and in some cases as originally delivered, including minimal or no references or bibliography). Editorial intervention is limited to an index of names.

The result is something of a miscellany. The book's title is misleading: not all the chapters focus on Sallust or in some cases make more than passing mention of him, and none addresses late Republican historiography beyond Sallust in any detail (the title might perhaps be taken as referring to modern historiography of the late Republic – which does appear for example in discussion of different approaches to Roman demography or of the political culture of the Republican period – although not all of the contributions engage with such questions). Subjects treated beyond Sallust include the epigraphy of the Marsi from the pre-Roman period to late antiquity (by C. Letta), the Republican-era development of the landscape around Amiternum (R. Tuteri) and aspects of the demography of Roman Africa (E. Lo Cascio). The book's preface frames the variety of the pieces as a testament to the intellectual range of the scholars connected to the centre: while this is amply demonstrated, the title (as well as consideration of the book's potential audience) might lead one to expect a more coherent thematic focus. The tone and register also varies widely, from R. Funari's detailed examination of the sources for and some methodological questions in Sallust's Historiae to G. Soraci's short and conversational description of the historian's modern statue and its epigraphs in the piazza of L'Aquila.

Despite the diffuse quality of the collection as a whole, the book is useful in making available (and in affordable form) some valuable but formerly hard-to-find pieces. R. Nicolai's treatment of Sallust's speeches, particularly that of Memmius in the Bellum Jugurthinum, was originally published in 2002, but remains important as an examination of Sallust's techniques and agenda in the speeches; Funari's chapter on the Historiae, also from 2002, complements the introductory materials included in his subsequent edition (with A. La Penna) of the work's first book. Of the unpublished material, M. Bellomo's discussion of partes and factiones in Sallust's writing usefully sets the historian within a broader Republican political context: Bellomo argues for an increasingly politicised usage of factio in particular across Sallust's work (although the evidence from the Historiae is derived entirely from the highly political speeches, which must colour the significance of such terminology). The other previously unpublished chapter is Letta's survey of epigraphic materials related to the Marsi: Letta uses the epigraphic material to draw conclusions about Marsic society and cultural changes resulting from contact with Rome.

Taken together, the contributions collected here illustrate the value of the Centro Studi Sallustiani, and they provide a representative document of the activities of its first quarter of a century. A firmer editorial hand and more coherent agenda might have resulted in a more fitting monument; but in the context of a recent resurgence of interest in the historian, the volume augurs well for the next two decades of Sallustian studies at L'Aquila.