Download or read book Ancient Rome and Modern America written by Margaret Malamud and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-03-30 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient Rome and Modern America explores the vital role thenarratives and images of Rome have played in America’sunderstanding of itself and its history. Places America’s response to Rome in a historicalcontext, from the Revolutionary era to the present Looks at portrayals of Rome in different media: writing,architecture, theatre, painting, World’s Fairs andExpositions, and film Beautifully illustrated with over 40 high quality photographsand figures

Download or read book Are We Rome written by Cullen Murphy and published by HMH. This book was released on 2008-05-05 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What went wrong in imperial Rome, and how we can avoid it: “If you want to understand where America stands in the world today, read this.” —Thomas E. Ricks The rise and fall of ancient Rome has been on American minds since the beginning of our republic. Depending on who’s doing the talking, the history of Rome serves as either a triumphal call to action—or a dire warning of imminent collapse. In this “provocative and lively” book, Cullen Murphy points out that today we focus less on the Roman Republic than on the empire that took its place, and reveals a wide array of similarities between the two societies (The New York Times). Looking at the blinkered, insular culture of our capitals; the debilitating effect of bribery in public life; the paradoxical issue of borders; and the weakening of the body politic through various forms of privatization, Murphy persuasively argues that we most resemble Rome in the burgeoning corruption of our government and in our arrogant ignorance of the world outside—two things that must be changed if we are to avoid Rome’s fate. “Are We Rome? is just about a perfect book. . . . I wish every politician would spend an evening with this book.” —James Fallows

Download or read book Why America Is Not a New Rome written by Vaclav Smil and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2010-01-29 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An investigation of the America-Rome analogy that goes deeper than the facile comparisons made on talk shows and in glossy magazine articles. America's post–Cold War strategic dominance and its pre-recession affluence inspired pundits to make celebratory comparisons to ancient Rome at its most powerful. Now, with America no longer perceived as invulnerable, engaged in protracted fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and suffering the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, comparisons are to the bloated, decadent, ineffectual later Empire. In Why America Is Not a New Rome, Vaclav Smil looks at these comparisons in detail, going deeper than the facile analogy-making of talk shows and glossy magazine articles. He finds profound differences. Smil, a scientist and a lifelong student of Roman history, focuses on several fundamental concerns: the very meaning of empire; the actual extent and nature of Roman and American power; the role of knowledge and innovation; and demographic and economic basics—population dynamics, illness, death, wealth, and misery. America is not a latter-day Rome, Smil finds, and we need to understand this in order to look ahead without the burden of counterproductive analogies. Superficial similarities do not imply long-term political, demographic, or economic outcomes identical to Rome's.

Download or read book Imperial Projections written by Sandra R. Joshel and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2005-09-13 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: , Martin M. Winkler, and Maria Wyke--Peter Bondanella, Indiana University "Classical Outlook"

Download or read book Rome in America written by Peter R. D'Agostino and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For years, historians have argued that Catholicism in the United States stood decisively apart from papal politics in European society. Drawing on previously unexamined documents from Italian state collections and newly opened Vatican archives, Peter D'Agostino paints a starkly different portrait.

Download or read book In Truth written by Matthew Fraser and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-03-27 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From ancient Rome to the current Internet age, this sweeping history of ideas explores how different epochs wrestled with the issue of truth and lies. From the ancient Greeks and Romans to the modern era, how have people determined what is true? How have those with power and influence sought to control the narrative? Are we living in a post-truth era, or is that notion simply the latest attempt to control the narrative? The relationship between truth and power is the key theme. Moving through major historical periods, the author focuses on notable people and events, from well-known leaders like Julius Caesar and Adolf Hitler to lesser-known individuals like Procopius and Savonarola. He notes distinct parallels in history to current events. Julius Caesar's publication of his Gallic Wars and Civil Wars was an early exercise in political spin not unlike what we see today. During the English Civil War and the Enlightenment, pamphleteering coupled with the new power of the printing press challenged the status quo, as online and social media does in our time. And "fake news" was already being used by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck in nineteenth-century Europe and by the "yellow journalism" of American newspaper magnates William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer near the turn of the twentieth century. The author concludes optimistically, noting that we are debating and discussing truth more fiercely today than in any previous era. The determination to arrive at the truth, despite the manipulations of the powerful, bodes well for the future of democracy.

Download or read book Romans in a New World written by David A. Lupher and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the impact the discovery of the New World had upon Europeans' perceptions of their identity and place in history

Download or read book First Principles written by Thomas E. Ricks and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller Editors' Choice —New York Times Book Review "Ricks knocks it out of the park with this jewel of a book. On every page I learned something new. Read it every night if you want to restore your faith in our country." —James Mattis, General, U.S. Marines (ret.) & 26th Secretary of Defense The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author offers a revelatory new book about the founding fathers, examining their educations and, in particular, their devotion to the ancient Greek and Roman classics—and how that influence would shape their ideals and the new American nation. On the morning after the 2016 presidential election, Thomas Ricks awoke with a few questions on his mind: What kind of nation did we now have? Is it what was designed or intended by the nation’s founders? Trying to get as close to the source as he could, Ricks decided to go back and read the philosophy and literature that shaped the founders’ thinking, and the letters they wrote to each other debating these crucial works—among them the Iliad, Plutarch’s Lives, and the works of Xenophon, Epicurus, Aristotle, Cato, and Cicero. For though much attention has been paid the influence of English political philosophers, like John Locke, closer to their own era, the founders were far more immersed in the literature of the ancient world. The first four American presidents came to their classical knowledge differently. Washington absorbed it mainly from the elite culture of his day; Adams from the laws and rhetoric of Rome; Jefferson immersed himself in classical philosophy, especially Epicureanism; and Madison, both a groundbreaking researcher and a deft politician, spent years studying the ancient world like a political scientist. Each of their experiences, and distinctive learning, played an essential role in the formation of the United States. In examining how and what they studied, looking at them in the unusual light of the classical world, Ricks is able to draw arresting and fresh portraits of men we thought we knew. First Principles follows these four members of the Revolutionary generation from their youths to their adult lives, as they grappled with questions of independence, and forming and keeping a new nation. In doing so, Ricks interprets not only the effect of the ancient world on each man, and how that shaped our constitution and government, but offers startling new insights into these legendary leaders.

Download or read book The Roman Clan written by C. J. Smith and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-03-09 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher description

Download or read book The End of the Past written by Aldo Schiavone and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THIS SEARCHING INTERPRETATION of past and present addresses fundamental questions about the fall of the Roman Empire. Why did ancient culture, once so strong and rich, come to an end? Was it destroyed by weaknesses inherent in its nature? Or were mistakes made that could have been avoided -- was there a point at which Greco-Roman society took a wrong turn? And in what ways is modern society different? Western history is split into two discontinuous eras, Aldo Schiavone tells us: the ancient world was fundamentally different from the modern one. He locates the essential difference in a series of economic factors: a slave-based economy, relative lack of mechanization and technology, the dominance of agriculture over urban industry. Also crucial are aspects of the ancient mentality: disdain for manual work, a preference for transcending (rather than transforming) nature, a basic belief in the permanence of limits. Schiavone's lively and provocative examination of the ancient world, "the eternal theater of history and power", offers a stimulating opportunity to view modern society in light of the experience of our forebears.

Download or read book Dynasty written by Tom Holland and published by Little, Brown Book Group. This book was released on 2015-09-03 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A masterly account of this first wicked century of the Roman Empire' Sunday Times 'Holland does not just tell the story of the reign of the Julio-Claudian family. He knits the history of ancient Rome into his narrative - its founding myths, the fall of the republic, the religious superstitions - with a skill so dextrous you don't notice the stitching. Dynasty is both a formidable effort to compile what we can know about the ancient world and a sensational story' Observer 'A witty and skilful storyteller... He recounts with pleasure his racy tales of psychopathic cruelty, incest, paedophilia, matricide, fratricide, assassination and depravity' William Dalrymple, New Statesman 'A wonderful, surging narrative... [for] anyone interested in history, politics or human nature - and it has never been better told' Mail on Sunday THE TOP TEN SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Download or read book Modern America and Ancient Rome written by Simon Kiessling and published by Algora Publishing. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mounting social inequality, the increased political polarization, and the republic's transformation into an empire of consumption - these are just a few of the similarities between modern America and ancient Rome. How does America relate to Europe, and how did the Romans see their Greek colonies - and vice versa? The parallels are striking. Is America likely to trace a comparable trajectory in the near future?

Download or read book Ancient Rome and Modern America A Comparative Study of Morals and Manners written by Guglielmo Ferrero and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2023-09-08 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reproduction of the original.

Download or read book Mortal Republic written by Edward J. Watts and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn why the Roman Republic collapsed -- and how it could have continued to thrive -- with this insightful history from an award-winning author. In Mortal Republic, prize-winning historian Edward J. Watts offers a new history of the fall of the Roman Republic that explains why Rome exchanged freedom for autocracy. For centuries, even as Rome grew into the Mediterranean's premier military and political power, its governing institutions, parliamentary rules, and political customs successfully fostered negotiation and compromise. By the 130s BC, however, Rome's leaders increasingly used these same tools to cynically pursue individual gain and obstruct their opponents. As the center decayed and dysfunction grew, arguments between politicians gave way to political violence in the streets. The stage was set for destructive civil wars -- and ultimately the imperial reign of Augustus. The death of Rome's Republic was not inevitable. In Mortal Republic, Watts shows it died because it was allowed to, from thousands of small wounds inflicted by Romans who assumed that it would last forever.

Download or read book Why We re All Romans written by Carl J. Richard and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2010-04-16 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This engaging yet deeply informed work not only examines Roman history and the multitude of Roman achievements in rich and colorful detail but also delineates their crucial and lasting impact on Western civilization. Noted historian Carl J. Richard argues that although we Westerners are "all Greeks" in politics, science, philosophy, and literature and "all Hebrews" in morality and spirituality, it was the Romans who made us Greeks and Hebrews. As the author convincingly shows, from the Middle Ages on, most Westerners received Greek ideas from Roman sources. Similarly, when the Western world adopted the ethical monotheism of the Hebrews, it did so at the instigation of a Roman citizen named Paul, who took advantage of the peace, unity, stability, and roads of the empire to proselytize the previously pagan Gentiles, who quickly became a majority of the religion's adherents. Although the Roman government of the first century crucified Christ and persecuted Christians, Rome's fourth- and fifth-century leaders encouraged the spread of Christianity throughout the Western world. In addition to making original contributions to administration, law, engineering, and architecture, the Romans modified and often improved the ideas they assimilated. Without the Roman sense of social responsibility to temper the individualism of Hellenistic Greece, classical culture might have perished, and without the Roman masses to proselytize and the social and material conditions necessary to this evangelism, Christianity itself might not have survived.

Download or read book SPQR A History of Ancient Rome written by Mary Beard and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-11-09 with total page 743 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Foreign Affairs, and Kirkus Reviews Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award (Nonfiction) Shortlisted for the Cundill Prize in Historical Literature Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (History) A San Francisco Chronicle Holiday Gift Guide Selection A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Selection A sweeping, "magisterial" history of the Roman Empire from one of our foremost classicists shows why Rome remains "relevant to people many centuries later" (Atlantic). In SPQR, an instant classic, Mary Beard narrates the history of Rome "with passion and without technical jargon" and demonstrates how "a slightly shabby Iron Age village" rose to become the "undisputed hegemon of the Mediterranean" (Wall Street Journal). Hailed by critics as animating "the grand sweep and the intimate details that bring the distant past vividly to life" (Economist) in a way that makes "your hair stand on end" (Christian Science Monitor) and spanning nearly a thousand years of history, this "highly informative, highly readable" (Dallas Morning News) work examines not just how we think of ancient Rome but challenges the comfortable historical perspectives that have existed for centuries. With its nuanced attention to class, democratic struggles, and the lives of entire groups of people omitted from the historical narrative for centuries, SPQR will to shape our view of Roman history for decades to come.

Download or read book Your Travel Guide to Ancient Rome written by Rita J. Markel and published by Twenty-First Century Books. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Takes readers on a journey back in time in order to experience life in ancient Rome, describing clothing, accommodations, foods, local customs, transportation, and notable personalities.