JSermarini

Over 17,600 images of fake coins. Especially important to consult before buying ancient coins on eBay. Use the search function to find matches.

Includes study images with descriptions to learn how to spot fake coins. Arranged by type: evidence of casting, evidence of pressing, style deviations, epigraphy deviations, etc.

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/fakes/index.php

It sounds like you are looking more for a book on Roman history than Roman coins.  Many Roman coin books do include a lot of history, but most are primarily a catalog.  The list of Roman history books is nearly endless.  For coin books, most that include a lot of history and background cover only a period of history and you have to buy many volumes to cover the entire series.

It sounds like you and I have a similar perspective. What I enjoy about ancient coins is researching them and I don't mean just the coin itself.  I will frequently start with the coin and then search for information on the year the coin was struck, or the person depicted, or the god or goddess depicted.  I do much of this research online, using just Google. 

There is much research, including scans of entire books and links to many more on NumisWiki.