The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

InthegreatestworkofhistoryintheEnglishlanguage,EdwardGibboncompressesthirteenturbulentcenturiesintoagrippingepicnarrative.Itishistoryinthegrandeighteenth-centurymanner,awell-researcheddramachargedwithinsight,irony,andincisivecharacteranalysis.Inelegantprose,Gibbonpresentsboththebroadpatternofeventsandthesignificantrevealingdetail.Hedelvesintoreligion,politics,sexuality,andsocialmoreswithequalauthorityandaplomb.WhilesubsequentresearchrevealedminorfactualerrorsabouttheearlyEmpire,Gibbon'sboldvision,wittydescriptionsofavastcastofcharacters,andreadinesstodisplayhisownbeliefsandprejudicesresultinanastonishingworkofhistoryandliterature,atoncepowerfullyintelligentandenormouslyentertaining.BasedonDavidWomersley'sdefinitivethree-volumePenguinClassicseditionofTheDeclineandFalloftheRomanEmpire,thisabridgementcontainscompletechaptersfromallthreevolumes,linkedbyextendedbridgingpassages,vividlycapturethestyle,theargument,andthearchitectureofthewholework.