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Podcast: New Books in Literary Studies
Episode: Edward J. Watts, "The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome: The History of a Dangerous Idea" (Oxford UP, 2021)
Description: As this book intriguingly explores, for those who would make Rome great again and their victims, ideas of Roman decline and renewal have had a long and violent history. The decline of Rome has been a constant source of discussion for more than 2200 years. Everyone from American journalists in the twenty-first century AD to Roman politicians at the turn of the third century BC have used it as a tool to illustrate the negative consequences of changes in their world. Because Roman history is so long, it provides a buffet of ready-made stories of decline that can help develop...