List of Maps xi Timeline xii Prologue: Nature's Triumph 1 1 Environment and Empire 6 2 The Happiest Age 23 3 Apollo's Revenge 65 4 The Old Age of the World 119 5 Fortune's Rapid Wheel 160 6 The Wine-Press of Wrath 199 7 Judgment Day 246 Epilogue: Humanity's Triumph? 288 Acknowledgments 295 Appendixes 299 Notes 317 Bibliography 351 Index 413
Kyle Harper is professor of classics and letters and senior vice president and provost at the University of Oklahoma. He is the author of Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275-425 and From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity. He lives in Norman, Oklahoma.
"One of Medium.com’s Books of the Year 2017"
"One of The Times Literary Supplement’s Books of the Year 2017"
"One of the Forbes.com “Great Anthropology and History Books of
2017” (chosen by Kristina Killgrove)"
"One of The Federalist’s Notable Books for 2017"
"Honorable Mention for the 2018 PROSE Award in Classics,
Association of American Publishers"
"One of Strategy + Business's Best Business Books in Economics for
2018"
"One of Choice Reviews' Outstanding Academic Titles of 2018"
"I read a lot of history in my spare time, and as best I can tell
modern scholarship is telling us that Rome really was something
special. What I learned from Peter Temin, and at greater length
from Kyle Harper, was that Rome wasn’t your ordinary pre-industrial
economy. . . . Harper notes that Rome was held back in some ways by
a heavy burden of disease, an unintentional byproduct of
urbanization and trade that a society lacking the germ theory had
no way to alleviate. But still, the Romans really did achieve
remarkable things on the economic front."---Paul Krugman, New York
Times
"A work of remarkable erudition and synthesis, Harper’s timely
study offers a chilling warning from history of 'the awesome,
uncanny power of nature'."---P. D. Smith, The Guardian
"Original and ambitious. . . . [Harper] provide[s] a panoramic
sweep of the late Roman Empire as interpreted by one historian's
incisive, intriguing, inquiring mind."---James Romm, Wall Street
Journal
"Ingenious, persuasive. . . . Lucidly argued."
*Publishers Weekly*
"A view of the fall of Rome from a different angle, looking beyond
military and social collapse to man's relationship to the
environment. There is much to absorb in this significant scholarly
achievement, which effectively integrates natural, social, and
humanistic sciences."
*Kirkus*
"An excellent new book. . . . [Harper] has managed a prodigious
scholarly output that uses date-driven, twenty-first-century
methods to solve enduring problems of ancient history."---Noel
Lenski, Times Literary Supplement
"[A] sweeping retelling of the rise and fall of an empire, [that]
was brought down as much by ‘germs as by Germans.'"---Keith
Johnson, Foreign Policy
"Harper argues his case brilliantly, with deep scientific research
into weather, geology and disease."---Harry Mount, The
Spectator
"An ambitious and convincing reappraisal of one of the most studied
episodes of decline and fall in human history."---Ellie Robins, Los
Angeles Review of Books
"Beautifully and often wittily written, this is history that has
some of the impact of a great work of dystopian science
fiction."---Tom Holland, BBC History Magazine
"This beautifully written book is ground-breaking stuff, both for
its method and content, and one of the most important of the
year."---Adrian Spooner, Classics for All
"Harper’s focus is resolutely historical, dealing only glancingly
with modern climate concerns. But the book’s theme is essentially a
timeless one: how big, complex societies handle strain and shocks
from factors outside of their control. That gives it some relevance
to the challenges we face today. . . . If the Fate of Rome proves
anything, it’s that nature always has the last laugh."---Asher
Elbein, Earther.com
"Harper offers a striking reinterpretation with worrisome
implications for the present day. . . . Today, we inhabit a global
system with a very similar combination of climatologic
disturbances, urbanization, less diverse diets, and globalization.
Ancient history reveals the risks we run."---Andrew Moravcsik,
Foreign Affairs
"The Fate of Rome is one of the most immediately readable histories
of the year, always investing even the most well-known subjects
with the vigor of fresh perspective."---Steve Donoghue, Open
Letters Monthly
"A recent book makes a convincing case that we need to be more
cognizant of the natural world’s role in all this. The Fate of
Rome: Climate, Disease and the End of An Empire, by the University
of Oklahoma’s Kyle Harper, makes a strong argument for the role of
plague and a shifting climate in the confluence of political,
economic, and social processes that we label the fall of the Roman
Empire."---Patrick Wyman, Deadspin
"Drawing on cutting-edge research into ice cores, cave stones, lake
deposits, and other sediments, Harper explores the influence of the
changing climate on Rome’s history. With a storyteller’s flair, he
describes how the climate’s impact was by turns subtle and
overwhelming, alternately constructive and destructive, but that
the changing climate was ultimately a ‘wild card’ that transcended
all the other rules of the game. . . . Harper reveals how the fate
of Rome was decided not just by emperors, soldiers, and barbarians,
but also by climate instability and pernicious disease."---Lucia
Marchini, World Archaeology
"[Harper's] aim in The Fate of Rome, however, is to foreground one
class of explanations that has hitherto been relatively neglected
by historians: the influence of climate and disease. Such
explanations are not new, but Harper brings to the table a large
body of recent scientific research into the evolution of ancient
diseases, disease ecology and historical climate variations. . . .
The wealth of new detail Harper offers to support his general
theses is the true strength of his book."---Jeffrey Mazo,
Survival
"Harper . . . has assembled compelling evidence that Rome died
mainly from natural causes: pandemic diseases and a temperamental
climate. . . . We know far more about both the causes of climate
change and the ecology of germs than our ancient ancestors did.
Perhaps we have a fighting chance of avoiding Rome’s fate, if we
heed the true lessons of its fall."---Madeline Ostrander, Undark
Magazine
"The Fate of Rome should probably sit on shelves next to Gibbon’s
masterwork. In time, one feels, it will be seen every bit as much
an essential text."---Andrew Masterson, Cosmos Magazine
"Gibbon’s is just one of myriad theories as to why Rome fell after
a millennium of unprecedented (and never repeated) strength.
[Harper] adds a fascinating theory to the corpus—one that could
only be ventured at this particular point in history . . . because
his thesis rests entirely on modern science. Harper, an able and
often eloquent writer argues, Rome was brought down by two
environmental components: pestilence and climate. And when these
two worked in concert, things really got bad."---Tony Jones,
Christian Century
"This is an exciting book that provides a fresh look at a perennial
topic, the fall of the Roman Empire, in sparkling prose accessible
to all economic historians. . . . Others interested in plagues will
find time lines and stories to ground the biology in its Roman
context. And anyone who is attempting to use the fall of the Roman
Empire as an example in contemporary life should read this book
before expounding one or another outmoded theory of the fall of the
Roman Empire."---Peter Temin, EH.net
"Harper has produced a wonderful case study that demands a general
rethinking of how we view the decline and fall of the Roman
Empire."---Williamson Murray, The Strategy Bridge
"[T]he author takes pains not to descend into the kind of reductive
or utterly contingent account of the Roman experience that
eliminates human agency from the story. Instead Harper furnishes a
richly detailed account of the environment in which—and with
which—Romans and their enemies contended."---W. Jeffrey Tatum,
Quarterly Review of Biology
"I recommend The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an
Empire by Kyle Harper. Given all of the other threats we face we
thankfully don’t have to deal with the added dual challenges of
climate change or new pandemics—right?"---William F. Wechsler,
Atlantic Council
"The Fate of Rome is the book every scholar wants to write once
during his or her career. . . . In the end, The Fate of Rome is
nothing short of monumental. . . . An important work need not be an
excellent one—this is both."---Carson Bay, H-Net Reviews
"This is an important book . . . . [Harper] should be congratulated
on his attempt to create closer connections between traditional
visions of Roman imperial history and the emerging scientific
evidence regarding past populations and their environments."---Adam
Izdebski, Environment and History
"The Fate of Rome is engaging and accessible for readers of all
stripes. Historians will appreciate the fuller picture gained from
incorporating nonhuman forces into our understanding of the past .
. . . Its story will also resonate with those interested in climate
change, empire, and science."---John Bowlus, Energy Reporters
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