his was an interesting one, and the sub-title, The Fall of and Empire and the Fate of America makes it even more-so.

And no, this is not a work of fiction.

Here, author Cullen Murphy takes apart history (particularly of the Roman Empire through 400 AD and beyond. The obvious drive – Rome fell, and are we falling the same way?

Well, it might not be the same, not really. After all, the Roman borders were indeed far away and news took forever to travel. Now, events that occur are available across the American Empire instantaneously, without control and sometimes without facts. No, we don’t have slaves, but we do have near-slaves (people working at below living wages). And yes, we do have pressure from “them” to come into our borders (yet our borders are tighter than those of the wandering Roman Empire). You might even look at the “barbarians”, not as dirty Mexican children but more of the pressing multinationals that are slowly overrunning us, chipping away at our government, ruling “outer provinces” as their own.

I’ll mention that the book is dated, having come out in 2004 (well before the “Nero” of Trump, the insurrection and the rise of Christian and National absolutism). In fact, I’d love to see this subject revisited, but I can only assume it is more bleak than before (I live in Florida where the governor rules in an absolute fashion and removes rights from citizens in an arbitrary manner).

No, barbarians will not cook their meat in the Oval Office. But Murphy does come out with some interesting and telling ideas as to how America might erode away (and how it might adapt and save itself). But a great book, one that placed my love of history and my concern of country between the same covers.

Worth a read.

>>>AS ARE MY BOOKS<<<