Never going back to the moon Nov 15, 2009
But, says Murray, "A culture that is unable to compete with the past's greatest expressions of the human spirit is in some sense a backward culture - the kind of backwardness that led Edward Gibbon to call the Romans at the apex of their empire 'a race of pygmies.' ". From moon shot to just plain shot in 40 years. (Athens Banner-Herald)
Cardboard Kev Nov 2, 2009
If Rudd were writing the official history of his first term, it would no doubt rival the six-volume Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. The synopsis might run like this. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Opinion)
Unknown Civil War soldier reburied in Tennessee Oct 11, 2009
In Roman times, the equivalent would have been the period of the "Five Good Emperors." The 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon famously remarked of the reigns of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, between 96 A.D. and 180 A.D., that theirs was a time when "the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous." This was lost with the succession of the erratic and unstable Emperor Commodus. Prop. (Fresno Bee -- Nation)
Top 10 Books Every College Student Should Read Sep 15, 2009
Edward Gibbon s Decline and Fall of the Roman EmpireNot a conservative book (though Gibbon was something of a conservative Whig) but a great one: History is the most important subject. 5. (Human Events Online)
The Culture Gabfest, Fogies and Jailbait Edition Sep 3, 2009
(Audiobook of the week: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, written by Edward Gibbon and read by Bernard Mayes. . (Slate)
Ethiopia: Ethiopia - Quest For a Lost Muslim City Jul 30, 2009
The traditional image of a beleaguered Christian state surrounded by enemies - made famous by Edward Gibbon in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - does not add up. Ethiopia has always been the ideal backdrop for tall stories, for example The Sign and the Seal, by Graham Hancock, which claims to prove 'conclusively' that the Ark of the Covenant is in Ethiopia; the book was key to creating the evangelical tourist trend in the country. (allAfrica.com)
‘How Rome Fell’ contains relevant lessons Jul 1, 2009
British historian Adrian Goldsworthy, author of a much-praised biography of Caesar and military histories of Rome, gives a special nod to 18th-century writer Edward Gibbon s view. In his classic, multivolume The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon decried a loss of moral virtue and civic participation among Romans. (Boston Globe)
Eastern Roman Empire Compared to th... Apr 20, 2009
Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1960). Cyril Mango, The Oxford History of Byzantium (Oxford University Press, 2002). (Suite101.com)
The way words work Apr 5, 2009
De Botton delivers a great soliloquy about Goethe and the 18th-century German passion for ruinenlust (love of ruins), and tells him that "the disintegrating Continental Airlines 747 visible outside your window seems the equivalent, for myself, of what the Coliseum in Rome must have been for the young Edward Gibbon". Whereupon the man tells him to f--- off again and threatens to shoot him. (Sydney Morning Herald)
* The world needs tactics to avert global fresh water shortages Mar 11, 2009
From the writings of the earliest modern commentators on the drivers of socio-economic growth and decline X Adam Smith, Edward Gibbon, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo and Karl Marx X we see that concern about exhausting resources is not new. Malthus and Ricardo were particularly prescient about the roles of population, food and energy resources. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)
