
The Fate of Rome
Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.00 for first 30 days
Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Andrew Garman
-
By:
-
Kyle Harper
A sweeping new history of how climate change and disease helped bring down the Roman Empire
Here is the monumental retelling of one of the most consequential chapters of human history: the fall of the Roman Empire. The Fate of Rome is the first book to examine the catastrophic role that climate change and infectious diseases played in the collapse of Rome's power - a story of nature's triumph over human ambition.
Interweaving a grand historical narrative with cutting-edge climate science and genetic discoveries, Kyle Harper traces how the fate of Rome was decided not just by emperors, soldiers, and barbarians but also by volcanic eruptions, solar cycles, climate instability, and devastating viruses and bacteria. He takes listeners from Rome's pinnacle in the second century, when the empire seemed an invincible superpower, to its unraveling by the seventh century, when Rome was politically fragmented and materially depleted. Harper describes how the Romans were resilient in the face of enormous environmental stress, until the besieged empire could no longer withstand the combined challenges of a "little ice age" and recurrent outbreaks of bubonic plague.
A poignant reflection on humanity's intimate relationship with the environment, The Fate of Rome provides a sweeping account of how one of history's greatest civilizations encountered, endured, yet ultimately succumbed to the cumulative burden of nature's violence. The example of Rome is a timely reminder that climate change and germ evolution have shaped the world we inhabit - in ways that are surprising and profound.
Author bio: Kyle Harper is professor of classics and letters and senior vice president and provost at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275-425 and From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity. He lives in Norman, Oklahoma.
©2017 Princeton University Press (P)2017 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...




















People who viewed this also viewed...


















Just a terrific book. Every chapter is enlightening and substantive.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
While I enjoyed the narration and listened to the end, I decided half way through that this book merits to be bought as a physical copy as well, for it contains a wealth of data the significance of which is easily lost when one doesn't see the figures written down. I think it will also be invaluable as a reference book in the future.
Indispensable reading
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Good read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
All the more reason to read it now. It's a wonderful book. It has revised so much of what I thought I knew about Rome, and not just facts, it has changed my base narrative.
It's one of those books where at least daily I found myself pestering my family with anecdotes.
I love it, and I'll probably come back to it again.
Read it now
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Outstanding!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wonderful update of Gibbons
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Rating Change
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
excellent
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Captivating story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very interesting and new content
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.