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The Ruin of the Roman Empire: A New History Paperback – August 25, 2009

by James J. O'Donnell (Author)

56 customer reviews

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The Ruin of the Roman Empire by James J. O’Donnell is a “vigorous” (Kirkus Reviews) and “richly layered” (Publishers Weekly) history of Rome’s fall. Renowned historian and author of Augustine, O’Donnell revisits this ancient tale in a fresh way, bringing home its sometimes painful relevance to today’s political issues.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

“O’Donnell’s richly layered book provides significant glimpses into the many factors that leveled a mighty empire.” (Publishers Weekly)

“A vigorous history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“An exotic and instructive tale, told with life, learning and just the right measure of laughter on every page. O’Donnell combines a historian’s mastery of substance with a born storyteller’s sense of style to create a magnificent work of art. Perfect for history-lovers and admirers of great writing alike.” (Madeleine K. Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State)

From the Back Cover

The dream Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar shared of uniting Europe, the Medi-terranean, 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.

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Product details

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Ecco; Reprint edition (August 25, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780060787417
ISBN-13: 978-0060787417
ASIN: 0060787414
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 56 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,395,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2317 in Books > History > Ancient Civilizations > Rome
- #53359 in Books > History > World

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Kindle Customer

The Rogues and Madmen responsible for Rome's fall

April 12, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

An awesome display of erudition and ambition. If you want to know current academic revisionist history this is the book for you. If you subscribe to the Great Folks of History, you will meet an assemblage of rogues, fools, and holy men who almost match the creatures who flourish inside the Beltway.
What you won't find is a trace of historical sociology, or economics, or technology. Like the characters in the book, it is all politics and religion. Situations outside Italy are viewed as incidents from flyover country. Sometimes in extremis the Savage feuds marking Merovingian Gaul are presented as Roman events, with the "barbarian element" simply added by Roman propaganda.
However if you enjoy the intrigues of court and the bitter internecine warfare of 5th century Christianity, this is the book for you.
Occasionally the writer's tendentiousness leads him to surprising judgements. Isidore of Seville, the dull recycler of history becomes the most learned man of the sixth century. If he was, then his career is simply early Medieval. All this in the service of the thesis that Romanitas trundles along until the advent of Islam.

I do not mean to slight this work. I learned a great deal about the political collapse of the west and the transformation of Christianity to a form unrecognizable by the writers of the New Testament.
Comprehensive as the book seems, it covers only a few of the causes of the end of the Ancient world. But it does cover them well.

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James P. Patuto

Frustrating and Provacative

June 20, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Mr. Odonnell is all over the map with this book, but this is a book that should be read for anyone interested in History, yes history,all history not simply Roman or early Middle Ages. For starters I remember a question on a Western Civ exam at Rutgers in 1965 [do they still have required Western Civilization courses , I really doubt it, too bad] "475 AD was a date of transition or not? Discuss" [that's a paraphrase], anyway if you didn't cut too much you knew 475 ,the date the last Western Emperor of Rome was deposed , was NOT a date of transition, it was simply the reality, that the so called Barbarians, had for a long time absorbed and were absorbed by the Roman Empire, and by ending a Roman figurehead, there was continuity in Italy and much of the old Roman World, O'Donnell repeats this in detail, still fighting the popular myths of Barbarians , coming across the Alps and Rhine in great hordes, despoiling a settled Empire and it's society. But O'Donnell doesn't stop here, he goes on with religion, wars, plagues , and musing about was there ever a chance for the world, to really accept a full civilization that would cross false geographic borders, uniting the Near East with Europe and ending about two thousand years of tragedy and warfare? He says yes way back by Alexander the Great and he finds fault with almost everything that happened since Alexander's early demise wrecked any chance of a coherent Empire.He does love him some Theodoric and really hates Justinian who in a counter intuitive argument , was the real cause of the ultimate downfall of the Roman Empire at least Roman Cultural and economic society.At least this seems to be one of O'Donnell's theories. This is a tough book to characterize, and I certainly don't buy all the arguments,and there are many on diverse topics, I also feel that O'Donnell culls facts to support his arguments, but I think he almost winks at the reader saying "Ok here is some support for what I believe, ignore other facts" , he has a folksy style that belies the heavy and sourced materials. This is a book well worth reading. It makes you think !

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JoshJosh

All over the map literally and figuratively

August 23, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I wanted to like this book, but it is too meandering and written in a matter-of-fact style that I think is not fully supported by the sources. It introduces new people constantly, moves to different topics, and bounces around the map constantly. I get what O'Donnell was trying to do - the Roman Empire was enormous and the collapse happened throughout. His enthusiasm shows on every page. I just found it off-putting and impossible to fully engage. A more forceful editor may have been helpful.

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Constant Reader

Rome wasn't destroyed in a day, either

March 20, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Great book if you are already familiar with the time line of papal succession and both Latin and Orthodox Emperors...Byzantine in both the literal and figurative senses, contradictory to classical reasons for the downfall of Rome (Gibbon, et. al), depressing in comparisons with today's political and global zeitgeist...topped off with footnotes and sources that are approximately 30-40% of the book. Heavy going even if you know the history and differences of various schisms and heresies.

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