Are We Rome Book Review
Book Review
Are we Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America
Introduction
Are we Rome? Will America’s rise to world leadership last for a thousand years? Or will our nation come to ruin, like the great Empire of ancient Rome? What lessons does Rome teach us? These questions have haunted Americans since the founding of the new nation in 1776, and they are still with us today. While some may look to Rome as an inspiration, others believe it casts a dark shadow over America’s national trajectory.
The book Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America by Cullen Murphy alludes to the ancient comparison through the picture of Horatio Greenough 's marble statue of George Washington on the book’s cover: Washington looks like a Roman Caesar in his toga. Today "triumphalists" celebrate the comparison and want to export America as a model to the world. "Declinists," on the other hand, lament the similarities and warn about over-extension, arrogance and fall. But are we Rome? According to Murphy (2007), "In a thousand specific ways, the answer is obviously no. In a handful of important ways, the answer is certainly yes" (p. 197).
Summary
Murphy devotes one chapter each to six parallels of relevance between ancient Rome …show more content…
In the ancient world, to join the Roman Legion, one had to speak and write Latin. The military, with bases and forts around the world, spread its influence not so much during battles, but by spending money in the local restaurants, marrying the local women, and bringing back bits and pieces of the places they lived for so long to their home cities in their retirement. It 's not just the soldiers themselves. It 's the entire structure and environment of the whole military family that spreads the culture of the empire around the
Are we Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America
Introduction
Are we Rome? Will America’s rise to world leadership last for a thousand years? Or will our nation come to ruin, like the great Empire of ancient Rome? What lessons does Rome teach us? These questions have haunted Americans since the founding of the new nation in 1776, and they are still with us today. While some may look to Rome as an inspiration, others believe it casts a dark shadow over America’s national trajectory.
The book Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America by Cullen Murphy alludes to the ancient comparison through the picture of Horatio Greenough 's marble statue of George Washington on the book’s cover: Washington looks like a Roman Caesar in his toga. Today "triumphalists" celebrate the comparison and want to export America as a model to the world. "Declinists," on the other hand, lament the similarities and warn about over-extension, arrogance and fall. But are we Rome? According to Murphy (2007), "In a thousand specific ways, the answer is obviously no. In a handful of important ways, the answer is certainly yes" (p. 197).
Summary
Murphy devotes one chapter each to six parallels of relevance between ancient Rome …show more content…
In the ancient world, to join the Roman Legion, one had to speak and write Latin. The military, with bases and forts around the world, spread its influence not so much during battles, but by spending money in the local restaurants, marrying the local women, and bringing back bits and pieces of the places they lived for so long to their home cities in their retirement. It 's not just the soldiers themselves. It 's the entire structure and environment of the whole military family that spreads the culture of the empire around the