The monograph focuses mainly on events reported for the Middle Republic, especially the second half of the third century BCE, when there seems to have been a significant increase in the number of incidents where the auspices were contested by Roman magistrates. Taken together, these events to Konrad might be “expressions of a larger sense of disaffection among elements of the Roman political class” (ix). The book does not offer a coherent analysis, but consists of nine independent chapters mainly providing case studies on single events, which help to illustrate the overarching questions on the nature of auspicia and imperium as well as on the reasons for challenging the auspices.