spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
3.0
Originally read for university. Pretty solid book; more or less in line with how I feel about the "fall" of the Roman Empire. More focus on the militaristic facet than I'd personally have liked, but that's just me.
fetterov's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.0
I was excited to read this book after devouring Goldworthy's wonderful biographies of Caesar and Augustus, but I thought it missed the mark a bit. The decline and fall of the western Roman Empire is, of course, one of the most written about and studied aspects of human history. I enjoy Goldsworthy's brand of scholarship that takes a skeptical eye to popular assumptions and isn't afraid to admit when we simply don't know something. However, the devil was in the details in this volume -- as in there were, at times, too many. The first section of the book on the third century gets totally bogged down in names of emperors, generals, and the important women in their lives. It was too fast-paced for me to be able to follow. The book got a bit more focused as it went onto the fourth and fifth centuries, but it felt more like a compressed narrative of 300 years of Roman history rather than details about how it fell. I wish he would've taken more time to focus on broad topics and trends about the decline and fall of Rome rather than telling us in detail about, for example, the reigns of Constantine and his successors. The blitz of names made this book feel dense and hard to follow. If you want a quick and dirty history of the Roman empire from Marcus Aurelius to Augustulus, you'll be happy with this work, but perhaps not if you want something truly focused on Rome's fall.
karolusrex's review against another edition
4.0
After having read "Roman Generals" (i think this is the name i dont know if they changed the name in the portuguese version) i dindt understood what could have happen for the roman army to go from a discipline force to something a bit like the fyrd and hurscarls some loyal and battle ready and others being there only for numbers (see belisarus campaings for this, rome sent more trops to conquer britania than belisarus had to conquer north africa and italy) and this book realy explains it.
I only found that the economics and religious reasons were lacking to a full explanation.
If your are locking for book that shows the how the roman empire fell (militarily) this is it.
I only found that the economics and religious reasons were lacking to a full explanation.
If your are locking for book that shows the how the roman empire fell (militarily) this is it.
the_dave_harmon's review against another edition
4.0
Very good. I was worried it would be too unaccademic, but he cuts a good balance. you don't need a phd or to know latin, but he doesn't dumb it down either.
The book was very heavily focused on the chronological political history and didn't much discuss archeological evidence or many other aspects. He mentions the issue of population and economic decline but refuses to go into it simply because we don't have cenuses or statistics. - that doesn't mean there isn't a clear preponderance of evidence and the consequences of that are worth examining.
He mentions that the roman army seemed to no longer exist but offers no explanation for what happened to it or why they weren't able to recruit more.
The book was very heavily focused on the chronological political history and didn't much discuss archeological evidence or many other aspects. He mentions the issue of population and economic decline but refuses to go into it simply because we don't have cenuses or statistics. - that doesn't mean there isn't a clear preponderance of evidence and the consequences of that are worth examining.
He mentions that the roman army seemed to no longer exist but offers no explanation for what happened to it or why they weren't able to recruit more.
rustagh's review against another edition
3.0
Interessante inzichten in de Romeinse cultuur en ellenlange reeksen van opstanden, burgeroorlogen en veldslagen. Ik ben blij dat ik het heb gelezen, maar ik ga het niet nog een keer doen!
evamadera1's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.75
This book would make an excellent textbook for a college level course on the decline of the Roman Empire. I say that with the upmost respect. As a history nerd, I enjoyed reading this book and appreciated the thorough historiography Goldsworthy used when writing this book. He maintained a level of objectivity necessary for providing a detailed introduction to the topic. It's not particularly engaging, thus the slightly lower rating.
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