Histories of the late Republic and biographies of Cicero havepreviously tended to treat political and cultural developments asessentially separate. In Cicero and the End of the Roman Republic,Thomas Wiedemann takes a fresh approach, looking at Cicero's literaryworks in the context of his public life, and of contemporary politicaland social issues. Wiedemann explores Cicero's role in thecreation of a new and effective 'Roman' cultural identity demanded bythe process of Italian unification and the consequent collapse of theold Republican party system.