The Romans: A 2,000-Year History (Edward J. Watts)

Edward J. Watts has delivered an ambitious and sweeping history of the Roman state with The Romans: A 2,000‑Year History. Watts offers a panorama of the Roman state from its earliest roots to its transformation into a republic, an empire, the gradual evolution of its power center moving to Constantinople, and then the eventual sacking of the city by Norman Crusaders in 1204. Watts challenges the standard snapshot view of the Romans as simply the pre‑imperial republic or the early empire by including the centuries of Eastern European rule as part of Rome instead of how we commonly have considered it to be Byzantine.

Watts argues that the resilience of Rome lay in its openness to new peoples, new faiths and shifting political geographies. Shifting geographies challenges the so‑called “decline and fall” theory and shapes Rome more as a story of transformation rather than abrupt collapse. His writing is clear and engaging; he moves the reader through centuries of politics, war, religion, and culture at a brisk but not overwhelming pace.

The sheer scope of 2 000 years of history means that the level of detail for each era is necessarily modest and brief. Readers seeking deep dives into particular emperors, military campaigns, or the evolution of Roman social status over time may find the coverage too broad for their tastes. However, the book serves brilliantly as a unifying overview and a call to reconsider how we define “Roman” identity across time.

The Romans is an excellent introduction for history enthusiasts and students who wish to view the Roman world centered not merely on the city of Rome but as a dynamic civilization spanning centuries. Watts has produced a compelling and richly readable account that will stand as a major single‑volume history of the Roman state.

MY RATING: 4.5

The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome: The History of a Dangerous Idea (Edward J. Watts)

 The discussion of Rome’s decline and renewal has been a part of the conversation in society for over 2000 years. Starting in the late Roman Republic during the 3rd Century BC and continuing on through recent times, politicians, philosophers, theologians, and pundits have all used this narrative to show negative consequences of events going on in the world. In the 1960s, Ronald Reagan harkened the need to counter the counterculture movement and Hippies of the late 1960’s as a way to prevent decline, using Rome as a reference in several speeches he gave. Yes, Rome eventually declined, split up, and then fell.

Edward J. Watts’s The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome: A Dangerous Idea talks less about the causes and effects of the decline and more about those who promised Roman renewal and those who were blamed for Roman decline. Seventeen hundred years of Roman and Byzantine (the eastern half of the Roman Empire that split off in the 4th Century) history is hard to weave into 230 pages. While this book does a good job of highlighting the major events and causes that fed the constant state of discussion about Roman renewal and fighting off Roman decline, it does so at a high level and does not provide a ton of in-depth analysis of those events. 

The author’s intent, it seems, is more to feed the idea that the rhetoric of decline and renewal can have disastrous consequences and knock-on effects that ultimately did not help the Roman state, especially when its leaders were corrupt or incompetent. On that point, he does succeed in showing some connection between the two. Ultimately, I wish the book had more depth and insight to help further explain the author’s point. It is a concise summary of a concept that arguably could have been in a book twice its size.

MY RATING - 4