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The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome: The History of a Dangerous Idea
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52
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
24/100Critics
81/100Scholars
Author:
Edward J. Watts
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Date:
August 3, 2021
The decline of Rome has been a constant source of discussion for more than 2200 years. Everyone from American journalists in the 21st century AD to Roman politicians at the turn of the third century BC have used it as a tool to illustrate the negative consequences of changes in their world. For those who would make Rome great again and their victims, ideas of Roman decline and renewal have had a long and violent history.
What The Reviewers Say
Watts...takes his readers from republican Rome to Republican Washington with a resounding theme that anyone promising to restore lost greatness is probably up to no good.
Watts has provided not a history of Rome in the longue durée, but an intriguing examination of the very idea of 'Decline and Fall'.
History professor Watts accomplishes an impressive feat by effectively compressing the vast history of Rome and its empire into a relatively short book. For nonacademic readers, however, following the massive cast of characters...may sometimes prove difficult.
