Best Book(s) On the Roman Empire

[erpowers]

Can the members of DU give me their suggestions as to the best books about the Roman Empire? I am interested in doing some reading about the Roman Empire, but I imagine there must have been many books written about the subject.

I am looking for books that deal with the rise and fall of the empire, but I am more so focused on the causes of the fall. The book does not have to spell out the causes for me. I would just like a history of what was going on in Rome when the empire eventually fell.

[bemildred]

1. A few:

Gibbon's "Decline and Fall" of course.
Tacitus "Histories" of course.
"The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians" - - J. B. Bury

After that there are lots of choices, and lots of fictional treatments.

Grousset's "The Empire of the Steppes" is a good treatment of the horse nomads.

[kag]

2. Thanks, bemildred.

I wasn't the OP on this, but I was anxious to see ideas.

[bemildred]

3. My pleasure.

I found those all good reads, though with Tacitus it depends on the translaton.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. BTW...2 of those recommendations are FREE on the web

via pdf or other format downloads which can be read in a good reader such as Calibre, which is also FREE.

I have about 2,000 books in a file on my puter, and many more now on disc, which I read on the monitor with Calibre.

Just Google Tacitus or Gibbons pdf and the links will take you to The Gutenberg project and archive.org, which has thousands of free books.