Why America Is Not a New Rome

Why America Is Not a New Rome
Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
Total Pages : 239
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780262288293
ISBN-13 : 026228829X
Rating : 4/5 (29X Downloads)

Book Synopsis Why America Is Not a New Rome by : Vaclav Smil

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.


Why America Is Not a New Rome Related Books

Changes in the Roman Empire
Language: en
Pages: 413
Authors: Ramsay MacMullen
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-02-19 - Publisher: Princeton University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Written by one of the foremost historians of the Roman Empire, this collection of both new and previously published essays forms a colorful picture of daily lif
Why America Is Not a New Rome
Language: en
Pages: 239
Authors: Vaclav Smil
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2010-01-29 - Publisher: MIT Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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–C
The Fate of Rome
Language: en
Pages: 436
Authors: Kyle Harper
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2017-10-02 - Publisher: Princeton University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How devastating viruses, pandemics, and other natural catastrophes swept through the far-flung Roman Empire and helped to bring down one of the mightiest civili
The Twelve Tables
Language: en
Pages: 48
Authors: Anonymous
Categories: Law
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-12-05 - Publisher: Good Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book presents the legislation that formed the basis of Roman law - The Laws of the Twelve Tables. These laws, formally promulgated in 449 BC, consolidated
The Severans
Language: en
Pages: 158
Authors: Michael Grant
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-12-02 - Publisher: Routledge

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Severans analyses the colourful decline of the Roman Empire during the reign of the Severans, the first non-Italian dynasty. In his learned and exciting sty