 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Product Description
Product Description
Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published between 1776 and 1788, is the undisputed masterpiece of English historical writing which can only perish with the language itself. Its length alone is a measure of its monumental quality: seventy-one chapters, of which twenty-eight appear in full in this edition. With style, learning and wit, Gibbon takes the reader through the history of Europe from the second century AD to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 - an enthralling account by 'the greatest of the historians of the Enlightenment'. This edition includes Gibbon's footnotes and quotations, here translated for the first time, together with brief explanatory comments, a precis of the chapters not included, 16 maps, a glossary, and a list of emperors.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
54 of 58 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This abridged edition of Decline and Fall, published by Wordsworth Editions, includes 28 of Gibbon's original 71 chapters. It starts with an introduction by Antony Lentin and Brian Norman of the Open University. Then there's a very small and not very comprehensive glossary - just enough to warn the reader that Gibbon uses certain words differently to the way we normally understand them. As we might expect, language evolves and this book was published over 220 years ago, so the meanings of some words have undergone subtle changes since Gibbon was writing and a modern desk dictionary may not help. There's a chronological list of Roman emperors starting with Augustus in Rome in 27 BC and ending with the demise of Constantine XI in Constantinople in 1453. The list of chapter is set out, very usefully, with a brief description of the contents of each chapter. This is especially helpful as it lists all 71 chapters - and there is no index! In the place of each missing chapter, there is a summary of the chapter. There are 16 very rough maps distributed through the book, showing how boundaries were changing and religious influences were spreading.
I found it a variable read. All of what is included in this volume is fascinating and left me wanting to know more. The variability relates to the ease of reading. Gibbon's writing style is not easy and some of it is vague, obscure and ambiguous. I often struggled to understand his meaning and in some cases had to give up and move on - this despite having the entire Oxford English Dictionary to refer to for clarification. Even so, I've mostly enjoyed the book, which has made a strong impression on me. Gibbon is astute and entertaining and a generator of frequent smiles. This compensated for the more difficult patches. I would not attempt the whole, original, unabridged version because it's a huge time investment and the "language barrier" would cause frustration.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is certainly a fantastic achievement and I would recommend it to any determined and scholarly person who is deeply interested in this area of history. However, for interested non-students (like me) I would suggest you do what I'm about to do, that is, look for something similar written in more accessible language - what is usually referred to these days as "Plain English".
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This Wordsworth Edition only has something like twenty eight full chapters, the others to make up the full seventy seven chapters are precis-ed. What Gibbon set out and achieved would be unthinkable today, there would need to be a number of historians to write the different chapters because people specialise on different ages and aspects. Gibbon though, studied a lot and could quote primary sources for his information. What he produced is an amazing work of history, albeit we know that it isn't all accurate by today's advances in history, but that shouldn't detract from what he achieved. This is also a great piece of literature. Admittedly some will find the print in this book too small, and those unfamiliar with reading 18th Century literature may find it archaic in places.
This edition does have maps as well as copious notes and makes for some interesting reading. Who knows, you may read this and then want to read the whole work.
This edition does have maps as well as copious notes and makes for some interesting reading. Who knows, you may read this and then want to read the whole work.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An excellent book, well researched and written. A must read. It makes the life of the Roman Empire come to life and is easy to understand. A definite recommendation if you are at all interested in the Roman Empire.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The best abridged version available.
Gibbon is an author I will get round to reading in his entirety one day, when I have the time. Until that far off day, an abridgement will have to do. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Cardew Robinson
Great Book
Great book. It is written in excellent English and thus is inspirational to read. The content is extremely compelling and really fulfils your needs.
Published 2 months ago by rom
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
