The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Modern Library Classics)

The book is a towering work and this audio version makes it easier to digest. The narrators style is appropriate but perhaps a little too fast as the text demands your attention - which is why I have only given it four stars, .The book itself deserves SIX stars. If you get distracted for a few moments, you can often find you have missed a key moment in the story. I have tried to slow it down on my iPhone, but the slowed version sounds like the narrator has suffered a partial stroke, and the voicing loses energy.

Gibbon's style and phrasing sometimes takes effort at times to disentangle, but it is always worth the effort. Probably the most visceral and engaging book I have read in 40 years. The chapter on Commodus took my breath away and left me staggering. For anyone wondering whether this book is worth their interest, I just suggest, listen to any chapter, any chapter....

Edward Gibbon's magisterial history of the decline and fall of Rome remains unsurpassed. While modern scholarship as corrected some details, the scope and vision of the work, with its penetrating insight and delightful commentary, remain the standard to which other comprehensive histories are compared. No other historian turns a phrase or selects the illuminating anecdote with Gibbon's deftness. I cannot recommend the books too highly!

This work is a classic among classics. Quite the long read, but you will come away with an understanding of how little distance our modern leaders have come in the last 2,000 years.,
Utterly fascinating.

All in the United States of America should in fact read this work as well as "Pax Romana: War, Peace and Conquest in the Roman World"- Sep 13, 2016 by Adrian Goldsworthy. Like Mr. Goldsworthy's work, it reminds one of a whole lot of things-in particular that "democracies" or "Empires" do not fall from without but from within! Furthermore, it explains how the "Romans" were successful in "in-corp-orating" the "populations" of many cultures and religions. Also, how the "roman" Empire was in fact successful and last so long by "Guarding" their "Blind" spots on both the "fringes" and "with-in" their own "House" so to speak! It reminds one of the 'Jimi Hendrix' songs "All Along The Watch Tower" and "Purple Haze!" [Jimi Hendrix was a soldier in Vietnam in the 101st-ABN Corps {"Band of Brothers"} part of the US Army's illustrious XVII-Aborne Corps- kind of like a 'Roman" Legion Designation- HQ Fort Bragg NC see: WikiPedia}] Oddly, since before ROME, "purple" has been the color of royalist and the "highly" influential! And there have always been "GATES" or "wickets" one must sadly "pass," supposedly......for US ALL!

It is also kind of like the "Jethro Tull" album "Storm Watch (NC-IS)" as the Romans built "Hadrian's Wall" in England to "deter" the Picts and kept "out post's" all along the Rhine River (Wacht am Rhine) to prevent "Germanic" tribe "incursions/infiltration!" Oddly, the "ROMANS" lost an entire "legion" in Germany, because they "trained/educated" a "highly" prominent son of a very "DOMINANT" German Tribe, that "tricked" the Roman's and led the "legion Commander" to his and his "legionnaires" demise! Kind of, like Osama Bin Laden, etc..., whom was trained by the US during the Soviet Union 'occupation' of Afghanistan- and the US had numerous opportunities to "negate" prior to 9-11; which is also oddly the US's universal "Police" emergency number which "originated" in Alabama! The, Roman's also hired "mercenaries" to guard their "frontiers/borders" such as Alderic- if I remember correctly- whom eventually "sacked" Rome! This, with the never ending wars in Iraq/Afghanistan, and elsewhere, spawning huge US, and other, "private'- 'part-time (GN)" armies should be a "heavy" lesson and "warning" to all- perhaps????

Oddly, the US Constitution EXPRESSLY FORBIDS US Leader's from accepting "titles of NOBILITY" as well as "no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever from any King, Prince or foreign State!" So why then are "Foreign Entities" allowed to make US "political campaign" CONT_RI_BUT_IONS???" As is this not "foreign" influence in US Domestic affairs???? It is kind of like how author "Jim Marrs" [at the store.com: https://www.the store.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_9?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=jim+marrs+books&sprefix=Jim+Marrs%2Caps%2C490&crid=2YHJ6RDBWBG0B ] and others, on internet write, that some of our previous "leaders" are actually related to the Royal families of Europe....?????

Finally, the Romans routinely, 'broke' or "dissolved" treaties and "arrangements" with other nations if they were no longer in the "best" interest of Rome and her citizen's kind of like the US Constitution mandates and is "taught" in Political Science and International Relations, etc....! Another, lesson perhaps "pertinent" in today's world of INDUSTRIAL-GLOBLIZATION??????? (All this is sort of depicted in the movie "GLADIATOR' with Russell Crowe- kind of like "Master and Commander!')

The founding fathers of the US were in fact, merchant's, soldiers, scientist's, explorer's and in a few cases "attorneys!" By and large they were "visionaries" who for their time. were very "highly" educated in a whole lot of different "disciplines" like Benjamin Franklin- scientist, politician, medicine, historian, etc....! The US Constitution itself states Congress is "to promote the Progress of Science useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective Writings and Discoveries! The IMPORTANT POINT being to "promote the Progress of Science [Useful Art]!" (The word "art" having many meanings as well as the word "useful'!!!!)

Every US Citizen should read this work, as it is part of the "CHAIN" of "books" on the back cover of "Everything You Need to Ace Science in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide (Big Fat Notebooks)" Paperback – August 9, 2016by Workman Publishing (Author),‎ Editors of Brain Quest (Draft Writer) [at the store.com: https://www.the store.com/Everything-You-Need-Science-Notebook/dp/0761160957/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525259778&sr=8-1&keywords=everything+you+need+to+ace+science } which are oddly from right to left almost in 'ROY-G-BIV" in arrangement!

PS: The HBO mini-series ROME is "highly" informative, and a great example of 'politics" etc.......

Also, per US Constitution "no state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of mark and reprisal; coin money, emit bills of credit; make any thing...etc..." Wonder what the "sister city" concept is all about a lot of cities in Alabama, and other states as well as colleges and Universities is in fact all about...????"

The insights are still unequaled. The writing style is elegant without being embellished. You can tell from reading this classic how the Roman Empire was so much like the present American one. We use Gibbon for our series of novels, Love and Empire.

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.

E book was delivered without problems but the TOC is entirely out of sync, e.g. the link for vol 2 notes returns to vol 1 with the similar number, so instead of going back to the page in vol. 2 you end up in vol. 1. It is a mess. This is not good and future buyers should be aware. I bought this particular edition for the convenience of the notes' links but was unpleasantly surprised that they don't work.

Excellent set of books for any student writing a paper about the Roman Empire. For me, this is the best work ever done on the Roman Empire and its collapse. A quick note, the 3 books set is so much better than the abridged version sold as a single book. The 3 book set is well worth the extra money.

My complaint is obviously not with the content; it is a book for the ages. But the quality
of the physical book is very poor, being nothing more than scanned pages. It is almost unreadable. Of the many visual imperfections, the preface says "these have been scanned and retained as part of the historical artifact." I didn't intend to buy an artifact, I wanted to read the book. Very disappointed.

I have only just begun reading this massive work, but because no one has yet written a review for the Kindle version I will say a few words about the formatting. The table of contents has links to individual chapters and sometimes to sub-sections as well. There are several introductions and prefaces. The body of the work is formatted neatly with clean, readable paragraphs and clear section headings. So far I have not noticed any footnotes getting in the way. A reviewer of another version complained of a clergyman periodically interrupting Gibbon's text to argue with the dead author, but fortunately I have seen none of that in this version.

You may wish to have quick access to Wikipedia's list of Roman emperors in order to easily follow Gibbon's chronolgy. I will update this review if I ever finish the book.

For serious history readers only. Gibbon's older English vocabulary sometimes requires a lot of patience and head scratching, and even then, a certain percentage of sentences leave me with unresolved ambiguities. It would be helpful to know Latin since lots of his original footnotes quote Latin sources. Because this is a very old book, many of the cities and nations discussed have old unfamiliar names, so it is sometimes necessary to go to Wiki or other references to clarify who and where. Also, the events and topics are not arranged in chronological order so it takes concentration to keep up with the relevant timeline. Another real problem for serious readers using the e-book version, the footnotes are often several page turns away from the relevant text, making many of the footnotes too difficult to use. For e-books,I think the footnotes need to be easy to jump to and jump back. As a frequent traveler to the Roman world, and having a lot of interest in religious and national history, I have found this book very worth while. And the e-book is easier to carry around than the original 6 volumes that probably weighed 50 pounds. Teddy Roosevelt took the hard copies on his 1913 adventure to the the store basin, but he had dozens of porters to carry his books. But they discarded them eventually when they all got into trouble. Teddy and I both like Gibbon in spite of the English difficulties.

Borges once said that reading Gibbon gives you the same pleasure as reading a great novelist. And its true.

Gibbon starts his history of the decline of the Roman Empire in the second century of our era and finishes it in 1453. For hundreds of pages -and hundreds of years- he takes us into a wild ride. Along the way we visit Rome at its splendor and ruin; we travel through the Empire with Hadrian and Attila; we stand next to Emperor Justinian as he inspects the foundations of Hagia Sophia and we ride behind Mehmet II as he enters on horse into that Cathedral, after taking New Rome.

And this trip through strange and exotic lands (because the past is also a foreign country) costs just 89 cents. A bargain and the best deal you can make.

Excellent, detailed, history with many references. Once read one has a very good idea what caused the decline and fall and how long it took to take place. One can see the effect of a political system which rewards itself at the expense of the population as well as a clergy that does the same.
Well worth the read, even at 4,500 pages.

A huge (total number of pages is approx. 4500 !) and excellent book.
This edition is great (The Britanicus is also a good one), stay away from the abridged edition of this book: poor work.
This book is a must read for one who love history.
Gibbons, at the beginning of each book ask the reader to not judge too quickly this monumental undertaking, who took him twenty years to write. This is why I waited three years before posting this too brief comment.

Would also suggest several books from Charles Homer Askins, superb medievist, which complement this reading :
"Renaissance in the twelve century" , "Roman Institutions", "The rise of universities".

Recommended for anyone interested in an accurate detailed history of the Roman Empire. Somewhat difficult to read as it was written over 200 ago but worth the effort to find the meaning of unfamilar words.

A must read for any one interested in history. You may think you about Rome but when you read Gibbon, you realize how much you don't know or how much you forgot. Every history student needs this in their library.

Gibbon covers the the decline of the Roman Empire in typical 18th century writing: very wordy! But the side "out quotes" will help the reader hone in to the section he or she may be seeking. Would like to have seen more dates in the text. A required resource for anyone studying the history of the Roman Empire.

Many factors, large and small, contributed to the collapse of the Roman Empire. Most important among these is the character of their leaders, how they conduct themselves both in public and private. If they had been able to rule themselves, controlling every indulgence, exercising sound fiscal judgment, and respecting and defending citizens' property rights, they might have lasted to this day!

Gibbons did an excellent job regarding his review and History of the Decline of the Roman Empire. Apparently, this books was written about 1776 - through 1830. Mr. Gibbons must have been able to see many political changes in Europe, the Middle East.
As for the decline of the Roman Empire; the moral decay of the leaders, ongoing corruption, the oppressive taxation of the Citizens
and the beginnings of Christianity with it's ongoing schisms merely added to Roman Decline. I suspect if it wasn't for the
Military's appointment of responsible Emperors; the Roman Empire would have quickly collapsed by way of the Gothic/Barbarian invasions. Gibbons has a tendency to become almost wordy on specifics but still; well worth reading. Thank you for your attention.

Great reading, that I could hardly lay down. My only qualms are with the improvable quality of the Kindle edition. There are frequent typos, some sentences are repeated and words missing. What I find most annoying, though, is that in a book where the footnotes are an integral part of the text they appear so far from the citing text. Usually I had to page forward two or three pages to find the text of a footnote, and given the number of them and the non-instantaneous refresh time of the screen in the Kindle, this quickly become tedious. This book, my first long reading in the Kindle, is probably the one I would prefer to have read in paper.

Many footnotes are in Latin. Clearly, Gibbon writes for learned people and assumes they all read Latin. Even though Spanish is my native tongue, I found it difficult to decipher most of the Latin footnotes, and I wonder if a learned kind soul would produce an edition with translations for people like me.

All in all, in spite of the shortcomings I mentioned, I am satisfied.

I always loved Roman and Byzantine history, so it was only a matter of time before I "knew" I had to read this. Like most of you I had heard a lot of modern authors and historians condemn Gibbon but I found him to be very entertaining and informative. Unlike the genius below who POSTED HER PSAT SCORES, I liked his writing style. It's obvious that the FLOW of history is important to him. I especially enjoyed the chapters in the first book about early Christianity - he actually takes a very harsh view that was very refreshing. His storytelling is superior to all others and this book is rightfully considered among the best works of the English language.
However, Gibbon does have some drawbacks- though it wasn't his fault. The Byzantine Empire, Slavs, Bulgarians, etc all get shafted by Gibbon. It's understandable since at the time this work was written, Byzantine study was not given serious thought. Overall a 5 star book! For Byzantine history I would recommend Procopius, Psellus, or "Romanus Lecapanus and his Reign" by Sir Steven Runcimen. Can't go wrong with those!

This is one of those books that is always showing up in the bibliographies and footnotes of other history books, but you won't find it in bookstores, and often can't be gotten by special order either because it's so "dated". One dollar and ninety-nine cents will save you a trip to the university library (and the Kindle weighs less, too!). The text is clear and easy to navigate. It's nice to have it on hand for a quick reference any time you want.