The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I: A.D. 180 to A.D. 395 (A Modern Library E-Book) | 
 enlarge | Author: Edward Gibbon
Publisher: Modern Library
Category: EBooks
List Price: $4.95
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Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 19262
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 928
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 937.06
ASIN: B000QCS9SM
Publication Date: November 1, 2000
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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
'It was at Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amid the ruins of the capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind,' recorded Edward Gibbon with characteristic exactitude. Over a period of some twenty years, the luminous eighteenth-century historian--a precise, dapper, idiosyncratic little gentleman famous for rapping his snuff-box--devoted his considerable genius to writing an epic chronicle of the entire Roman Empire's decline. His single flash of inspiration produced what is arguably the greatest historical work in any language--and surely the most magnificent narrative history ever written in English. 'Gibbon is one of those few who hold as high a place in the history of literature as in the roll of great historians,' noted Professor J.B. Bury, his most celebrated editor.brbrThis three-volume Modern Library edition of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire--with Gibbon's notes--is edited with a general introduction and index by Bury, along with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Daniel J. Boorstin. The Volumes are illstrated with reproductions of etchings by Gian Battista Piranesi.brbrThe first volume contains chapters one through twenty-six of The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
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| 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.
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