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Title: The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, Daniel J. Boorstin, Gian Battista Piranesi, Hans-Friedrich Mueller, Edward Gibbon ISBN: 0-375-75811-9 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 12 August, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.72 (32 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Peerless history
Comment: Edward Gibbon's masterpiece is not only the finest work of history in the English language, it is also one of its greatest narratives.
No writer can fail to learn from how Gibbon used his incredible command of sources and texts to fashion his work; no student of the classic world can fail to learn from Gibbon's wealth of detail; no educated person can fail to learn from his depiction of the corruption and collapse of a once-mighty empire.
Modern historians pooh-pooh Gibbon's "bias" and "slant" and insinuate that the mighty world of professional academic history "gets" the subject in a way Gibbon did not. Gibbon was a man, of course, and his word is not final. Yet the difference is that while historians today are blind to their own equally crippling prejudices, Gibbon wears his ones on his sleeve and nevertheless dares his detractors to doubt his erudition and achievement. They are pedants, but he is the Master.
I find it interesting that while Gibbon had no formal training in history whatsoever, men and women today must spend close to a decade labouring over some insignificant point in the record to become a "real" historian. A telling point.
Rating: 5
Summary: The collapse of Rome and the western world explained.
Comment: The quite voluminous "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" is one of the most important books of all times, and is of special interest to the reader who wants to go the extra mile in search of the reasons why the Empire collapsed after almost 1.000 years of existence. Is also a good reminder to everyone of us that, no matter what, all things pass and one world leader is followed by another in a sequence of falling cards. The book, first publishe in 1776, the same year that the "Wealth of the Nations" was published, and the same year the United States declared its independency, is one of the first serious attempts to relate history in a context of sequenced facts where social, political and cultural movements were much more important than the play of personalities. Edward Gibbon lived in Geneva many years and was familiar with the most important intelectual developments of the age, being acquainted with Voltaire and his ideas, reading and writting in many languages but mainly in French. The bibliography he consulted is extensive and, even some 15 centuries after the facts he reports, his is one of the most comprehensive and authoritative analysis of the reasons behind the fall of Rome.
To begin with, he does not list how it all began, that is, it is not his purpose to narrate how the Empire was built. He begins with the Empire as a "fait accompli", with a narrative in the rule of Julius Cesar , the philosopher ruler, and analises with endless detail all the rationale of lack of in each and every ruler's mind, the background of his ascent and the reasons behind the fall of each one of them. The vast majority of Rome's ruler was killed by people who was akin or intimate to the ruler or by members of the Praetorian guard. Also, all the meanings of the empire's hierarchy is explained with a lot of detail, what was the function of a Caesar, what meant to be a senator at the time of Rome apogee, of consulship, etc... Each one of the 3 books, totalling some 2.000 pages, has a very interesting map of Europe, Africa and Asia at the time. A lot of factual information is there to astound the reader with the polyhistoric knowledge of the author. His privileged mind does not permit him to understand that not all the readers speak the languages he does and the text is full of footnotes quotations in Latin and ancient Greek, with no translation whatsoever.
The portrait of the barbarians kings and people is superb and the reader has the opportunity of a face to face contact with Allaric, the king of the Goths, and with Atilla, the king of the Huns. Sure, this trilogy is only focused in the so-called West Empire and its sequel is totally devoted to the East empire, but that is another story.
Rating: 4
Summary: Toting books
Comment: This is an extremely resourceful book. If someone needs a brief overview of the Roman times, this could be it. Although the volumes are a little thick, they are small enough to tote around wherever you go, if you want. Well, that's all I got to say.
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Title: The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome (Penguin Historical Atlases) by Chris Scarre ISBN: 0140513299 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Rise of the Roman Empire by Ian Scott-Kilvert, Obye Polybius ISBN: 0140443622 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1980 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Chronicle of the Roman Emperors: The Reign-By-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial Rome by Chris Scarre ISBN: 0500050775 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: October, 1995 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: The Histories by Herodotus ISBN: 0375400613 Publisher: Unknown Publisher - Being Researched Pub. Date: 25 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, David Womersley ISBN: 0140437649 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 02 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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