The Ruin of the Roman Empire
Subtitle
A New History
The dream Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar shared of uniting Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East in a single community shuddered and then collapsed in the wars and disasters of the sixth century.
Historian and classicist James J. O'Donnell — who last brought readers his masterful, disturbing and revelatory biography of Saint Augustine — revisits this old story in a fresh way, bringing home its sometimes painful relevance to today's issues.
With unexpected detail and in his hauntingly vivid style, O'Donnell begins at a time of apparent Roman revival and brings readers to the moment of imminent collapse that just preceded the rise of Islam. Illegal migrations of peoples, religious wars, global pandemics and the temptations of empire: Rome's end foreshadows today's crises and offers hints how to navigate them — if present leaders will heed this story.
Bio
Jim O'Donnell is the university librarian at Arizona State University. He is also a classics scholar and professor in ASU's School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies. O'Donnell pioneered the scholarly study of late antiquity, and is the author of several books, including "Pagans," "The Ruin of the Roman Empire" and "Augustine: A New Biography."
