|
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume II (Modern Library) | 
 enlarge | Author: Edward Gibbon
Creator: Gian Battista Piranesi
Publisher: Modern Library
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
Buy Used: $7.99
You Save: $18.96 (70%)
Used (7) from $7.99
Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 1567687
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 912
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.7
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.3 x 2.1
ISBN: 067960149X
Dewey Decimal Number: 937.06
EAN: 9780679601494
ASIN: 067960149X
Publication Date: January 1, 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Also Available In:
| • | Hardcover - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-3 (Everyman's Library) | | • | Paperback - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Penguin Classics) | | • | Kindle Edition - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume III: A.D. 1185 to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 (A Modern Library E-Book) | | • | Paperback - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Modern Library Classics) | | • | Hardcover - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I: 180 A.D. -- 395 A.D. | | • | Hardcover - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume II: 395 A.D. -- 1185 A.D. | | • | Hardcover - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 3 | | • | Hardcover - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (7 book set) | | • | Mass Market Paperback - The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire | | • | Hardcover - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Everyman's Library) | | • | Hardcover - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Everyman's Library) | | • | Hardcover - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in Six Volumes - Volume Three | | • | Hardcover - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in Six Volumes - Volume Four | | • | Hardcover - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in Six Volumes - Volume Five | | • | Hardcover - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Everyman's Library) | | • | Hardcover - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Volumes 4-6) | | • | Hardcover - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol 1. (Modern Library) | | • | Hardcover - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume III (Modern Library) | | • | Unbound - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: The History of the Empire from A.D. 180 to A.D. 395 | | • | Unbound - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: The History of the Empire from A.D. 395 to Ad 1185 | | • | Unbound - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: The History of the Empire from A.D. 1185 To... | | • | Hardcover - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire | | • | Audio Cassette - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Vol. 1, Pt. 1) | | • | Audio Cassette - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Vol. 1, Pt. 2) | | • | Audio Cassette - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (vol 2 part 1) | | • | Audio Cassette - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (vol 2 part 2) | | • | Audio Cassette - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (vol 3 part 1) | | • | Audio Cassette - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (vol 3 part 2) | | • | Paperback - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 1 | | • | Paperback - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 2 | | • | Paperback - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 3 | | • | Audio Cassette - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (15 Cass) | | • | Audio CD - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Classic non-fiction) | | • | Audio CD - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Classic Non-fiction), Vol. 2 | | • | Audio Cassette - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Classic Non-fiction) | | • | Audio Cassette - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Part 2 (Classic Non-fiction) | | • | Hardcover - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire | | • | Hardcover - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (10618) | | • | Audio Download - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire | | • | Kindle Edition - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I: A.D. 180 to A.D. 395 (A Modern Library E-Book) | | • | Kindle Edition - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume II: A.D. 395 to A.D. 1185 (A Modern Library E-Book) | | • | Hardcover - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
British parliamentarian and soldier Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) conceived of his plan for iDecline and Fall/i while "musing amid the ruins of the Capitol" on a visit to Rome. For the next 10 years he worked away at his great history, which traces the decadence of the late empire from the time of the Antonines and the rise of Western Christianity. "The confusion of the times, and the scarcity of authentic memorials, pose equal difficulties to the historian, who attempts to preserve a clear and unbroken thread of narration," he writes. Despite these obstacles, iDecline and Fall/i remains a model of historical exposition, and required reading for students of European history.
Product Description
"Gibbon is a kind of bridge that connects the ancient with the modern ages," noted Thomas Carlyle. "And how gorgeously does it swing across the gloomy and tumultuous chasm of these barbarous centuries." Indeed, Gibbon, the supreme historian of the Enlightenment--the illustrious scholar who envisioned history as a branch of literature--seemed almost predestined to write his monumental account of the Roman Empire's terrible self-destruction. "I have described the triumph of barbarism and religion," wrote the author in the famous epigram that summed up his towering achievement in bThe Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire/b.br"Gibbon is not merely a master of the pageant and the story; he is also the critic and the historian of the mind," said Virginia Woolf. "Without his satire, his irreverence, his mixture of sedateness and slyness, of majesty and mobility, and above all that belief in reason which pervades the whole book and gives it unity, an implicit if unspoken message, the bDecline and Fall/b would be the work of another man....We seem as we read him raised above the tumult and the chaos into a clear and rational air."brThe second volume contains chapters twenty-seven through forty-eight of bThe Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire/b.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 63 more reviews...
 The Ultimate History of the Decline and Fall October 21, 2008
Josie Cabot (Sanibel, FL, United States)
I ordered both sets of this series, the first includes vols. 1-3 and the second is vols. 4-6. They are beautifully bound and although they are hardbound, they are the small size for which Everyman's Library is well known. The first boxed set covers the fall of the Western Empire, while the second deals with the Eastern Empire. Although I have not finished the books,so far the history is meticulously written and copiously footnoted. The introduction is a must, as it explains not only the biography of Gibbon, but the importance of the book as a historical explanation, rather than just a recitation of facts.
 Hey, Ed! I Only Have 16 Years of Schooling-Take it Easy August 27, 2008
William M. Glass (usa)
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The title of this piece is more of a plea than a statement, but then again, I don't think Ed can hear me regardless. br / br /For non-academics which I surely am, this tome is unreadable. While I wasn't exactly contemplating an easy read, I never expected a rapture equaling the best/worst Shakespeare had to offer with his 21,000 word vocabulary. I don't doubt nor argue the positive critiques of Gibbon's masterpiece but hey, I read for pleasure with a certain amount of enlightenment thrown in. This stuff is beyond my pay grade. br / br /Good luck to all of you there getting ready settle down for the first time with this goliath of 17th century prose. Bring your lunch!The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 3
 free on the net August 22, 2008
Tim J. Weaver
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire entire volume 1-6 are available for free on Project gutenberg. Don't pay Amazon Kindle money for something free legally on the net.
A Classic Work of History July 5, 2008
Steven M. Anthony (Arkansas)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This widely acknowledged classic work of English literature should be required reading for any class on Ancient History. The story of the Roman Republic and the early years of the Empire are widely known. However, the slow death spiral beginning after the reign of Augustus is not nearly as well known as it should be. br / br /I confess to knowing only part of the story prior to hearing Gibbon's narrator recite the repeated murders and intrigues visited upon Emperor after Emperor. To have been Roman Emperor from the years 100 A.D. to 400 A.D. was to enjoy the life span of a mayfly. br / br /To read a roll call of Emperors during the period is to go through dozens of short lived leaders (some of mere weeks and months), mostly murdered and replaced by the Praetorian guard, with a smattering of competent longer lived leaders such as Clodius, Marcus Aurelius, Domitian and Constantine. br / br /Such a disfunctional method of leadership selection, coupled with repeated incursions by Goths, Vandals and Huns ultimately spelled an end to the Western Roman Empire. br / br /The audio version of this work is very well presented in its abridged form through the use of two narrators, one to read the actual words of Gibbon, while the other summarizes the abridged text. Despite the slightly dated form of English used by writers of Gibbons' age, the work was quite easy to follow with the possible exception of the chapter dealing with the rise and spread of Christianity throughout the Empire. br / br /While I cannot pass upon the readability of the unabridged text, I can highly recommend the abridged audio version which I enjoyed.
The Book June 20, 2008
reader 451
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
First one thing: do not, on any account, get the abridged version. If I could take one book to a desert island, it would be this one. That's because it is extremely long, and every word of it is worth it. br / br /Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire remains as relevant as ever. And this is in spite of its hugely ambitious scope, treating of the history of the Roman and Byzantine empires (both considered Roman by Gibbon) from the end of the 1st century AD to the 15th. Gibbon is a modern historian. He is shrewdly selective of his sources, judiciously reserved, and coldly analytical. He differentiates between proximate and ultimate causes. He has a humanistic but impartial point of view. At the same time, he is an 18th century Englishman. While this is reflected in some of his opinions, such as that the extinction of republican freedom was what determined Rome's decline, it makes them no less valid and often the more interesting; it is hard to imagine anyone today being able to treat the early Christian controversies with the same tact and humour, for example. br / br /And Edward Gibbon wrote like an enchanter. I read somewhere that his style was an inspiration to Churchill. No wonder. Every line of this tome of perhaps a million words is a delight to read. You will laugh out loud. His thought is clear and convincing. And there are simply magical moments, such as when he produces that mythical animal that appeared in the Roman circus, an animal no one in Europe has seen since then... a giraffe. Or the dissertation on whether Europe remains at threat of invasion from the Mongols. br / br /The Decline and Fall is full of telling anecdotes, and yet it always holds to a general picture. It is filled with detail and colour but never loses the reader. It is packed with events, and it offers discussion of longer trends - notably those that participated in Rome's decline and led to its eventual fall - political, religious, military, economic. And it is even more impressive when one thinks of the modern tools its author did not have at his disposal, in particular archaeological and numismatic. Approximately half of the book is dedicated to the Roman Empire proper, up to the late 5th century. This is where Gibbon is at his strongest, his research the most thorough. The rest deals with Byzantium, touching heavily on European history up to the fall of Constantinople, and has a broader sweep. His work ends with a description of Rome as it looks today (i.e. in the late 18th century). br / br /I finished reading my copy (after several happy months) in Rome itself, in a little place with a view of the Pantheon. If you have the luck of being able to do that, you will never forget it.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
