Specify About Books The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
| Title | : | The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire |
| Author | : | Edward Gibbon |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | abridged |
| Pages | : | Pages: 1312 pages |
| Published | : | August 12th 2003 by Modern Library (first published 1776) |
| Categories | : | History. Nonfiction. Classics. Ancient History. Historical |
Narration Toward Books The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Length: 126 hrs and 31 mins The History of the Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire was written by English historian Edward Gibbon & originally published in six quarto volumes. Volume 1 was published in 1776, going thru six printings; 2-3 in 1781; 4-6 in 1788-89. It was a major literary achievement of the 18th century, adopted as a model for the methodologies of historians.The books cover the Roman Empire after Marcus Aurelius, from 180 to 1590. They take as their material the behavior & decisions that led to the eventual fall of the Empire in East & West, offering explanations.
Gibbon is called the 1st modern historian of ancient Rome. By virtue of its mostly objective approach & accurate use of reference material, his work was adopted as a model for the methodologies of 19-20th century historians. His pessimism & detached irony was common to the historical genre of his era.
Although he published other books, Gibbon devoted much of his life (1772-89) to this one work. His Memoirs of My Life & Writings is devoted largely to his reflections on how the book virtually became his life. He compared the publication of each succeeding volume to a newborn.
Gibbon offers an explanation for why the Roman Empire fell, a task difficult because of few comprehensive written sources, tho he wasn't the only historian to tackle the subject. Most of his ideas are taken from what few relevant records were available: those of Roman moralists of the 4-5th centuries.
According to Gibbon, the Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions because of lost of civic virtue. They'd become weak, outsourcing defence to barbarian mercenaries, who became so numerous & ingrained that they took over. Romans had become effeminate, incapable of tough military lifestyles. In addition, Christianity created belief that a better life existed after death, fostering indifference to the present, sapping patriotism. Its comparative pacifism tended to hamper martial spirit. Lastly, like other Enlightenment thinkers, he held in contempt the Middle Ages as a priest-ridden, superstitious, dark age. It wasn't until his age of reason that history could progress.
Present Books In Pursuance Of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
| Original Title: | The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire |
| ISBN: | 0375758119 (ISBN13: 9780375758119) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Setting: | Roman Empire |
Rating About Books The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Ratings: 3.96 From 10859 Users | 480 ReviewsWrite Up About Books The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Hard to know where to begin with this. His much praised style? Sure, it's better than most historians, but it still bears the scars of the eighteenth century in general, and eighteenth century self-importance in particular. Yes, there's the odd ironic gotcha, but I got the distinct impression that he was shooting fish in a barrel. With a shotgun. An automatic shotgun, like in a video game. Compare, for instance, Swift- he was hunting big game. The ideology? Only one kind of person could readThe obvious issue to address in reviewing the 3,500-page unabridged edition of Gibbon's masterpiece, is whether the maniacal effort to attack such a work could ever justify preferring it over a single-volume abridged edition. That is an easy call. This work is occasionally tough, often exciting, but in every sense a necessity over any attempts to edit down Gibbon. I tried the 1200-page Modern Library edition and found it fragmented and hard to follow, simply because Gibbon is telling a story
Reading parts of this again for work, and realised I never reviewed this absolutely massive book.One of the most fascinating (and distorted) works of history ever written, created by one of the most famous (and biased and opinionated) historians of all time.Full review to come.
Avoid this abridged edition of Gibbons classic. It is a huge disappointment to be being fully absorbed in the text and then groan as a cross is marked where a significant portion has been cut. This is depressing and makes for a disjointed unsatisfying read. But, that is not the worst crime of this edition. Every single one of Gibbons footnotes has been removed. Some of his footnotes just give his sources (which are important in themselves), but others comment on the text and continue it, and
I borrowed the first two volumesamongst my Dad's all-time favouritesfrom his study when I was around fourteen; and my enduring fascination with the Roman Empire, and ancient history in general, most likely stems from a combination of the heady brews of Gibbon's and Tolkien's masterworks, which ignited within me a terrific thirst for mythology, legend, and history that has yet to be slaked. As far as The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is concerned, I believe that Gibbon is the greatest
the vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave. Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volumes 1 - 6 = 3589 pages, and I can't think of more than 200 that I would have preferred to have skipped. Love Gibbon's sense of humor, his methodology, his hard bigotry towards the Huns, his soft bigotry towards the Christians, and his ability to find interesting nouns to link with rapine: "idleness,
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon.J.B. Bury reprint edition in 7 hardcover volumes. ISBN 9780404028206. AMS Press, 1974. 3,928 pages.This is the mint condition set that has been in my library for 30+ years.Thanks to the hash that Amazon and Goodreads have made of proper and sensible listing of this work on the website, I am having to move my previous listing to this page. Somehow, the other page that listed the complete set now lists the item on that page
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