"The Ruler's House engagingly combines two areas of scholarly study that have, individually, received considerable attention in recent decades: the Roman domus/familia and Augustan/Julio-Claudian ideology. Fertik expands our understanding of the emperors' use of traditionally private aspects of Roman culture to further their public political ambitions in this formative period of the Empire. Analyzing archaeological material from Rome and Pompeii, literary sources, and contemporary scholarly commentary, this ambitious book casts a broad net in order to offer new insights into both subject areas and achieves a satisfying depth. The end result is a new, singular perspective on the Roman political philosophy of visibility in the public/private spheres of the early imperial period."
— Christopher A. Gregg, George Mason University