The book is two distinct parts- Agricola, which is a standard, fairly dull biography of the author's father-in-law, which on it's own I'd rate two stars
The second part, however, is Tacitus' description of the German tribes, which is fascinating both for what it says of the tribes, and what it says of the Romans who viewed them. Four stars. (for an average of three)

I read Agricola and Germania because they were recommended in a list put out by Oxford University Press of the best places to start with Roman literature. I found it easier than Tacitus' Annals, which I didn't finish. The Roman description of life in Britannia at the end if the first century was mainly martial but, nevertheless, it is inspiration for our future (that is, post-Covid) trip to Newcastle and Hadrian's Wall.

I was assigned this book for a history class on Ancient Rome. As a primary source document, I would not recommend this to anyone other than history majors and those deeply interested in Ancient Rome.

The first book, Agricola follows the life of Tacitus' father in law. Dry, but it does give a relatively deep look into First and Second Century Roman military tactics and the surrounding lifestyle. At this point, Rome is conquering Britain, so we learn a lot about tribes and barbarians. Fun fact for the women out there, but women actually led the troops into battle in Britain! I do question his credibility as this was written after his father in law's death and written by a family member.

Germany, the second book, is the first detailed study of its' kind on another culture. The two parts that especially stuck with me was a reference to beer and the inclination of the Germans to get too drunk to function. They were more likely to fall to drinking than to weapons. (hahahah). The other one was about the sea past Germany. Rome seemed to have a pretty sound understanding of geography, and it is a myth that the ancient world thought the world was flat. However, Tacitus writes that past this sea the world ends. This section on Germany is obviously written from the perspective of the culture in power, but I will say Tacitus does a pretty good job accurately representing the country and tribes. He touches on political structure, geography, social structure, marriage, prostitution, agriculture, war and religion. It is a quick, short read, only about 30 pages if using the Oxford edition and not too difficult to get through.

Regarding the main text, there is a short biography of the roman general Agricola (whom Tacitus is descended from) and a geographical account of Germania, particularly the customs and human geography of its people. Both of these are excellent.

Although Agricola is a biased and uncritical account boosting the reputation of a relative, the writing and character-development is superb, and Tacitus's ability to arouse positive feelings about Agricola and to excuse literal imperialism and genocide as it pertains to Agricola's actions is impressive. For someone I've long viewed negatively, Agricola sure does seem like a nice chap.

As for Germania, as a nerd of human geography, this was an absolute feast. I find the cultural customs of the Germans to be utterly fascinating, and I am grateful that Tacitus gave us an account of them on par with Ceaser's human-geographical account of the Gauls.

The introduction is a bit of a slog but then again I went into this already familiar with the text and knowing what to expect. About half of the book's length is explanatory notes, and with this high a frequency of notes, they should have been footnotes instead of making me flip back and forth constantly. Instead of half the book being notes, I'd rather the bottom half of the pages be footnotes. That said, the kick I got out of the main text and the high quality of the translation makes this a worthwhile read.