Most modern historians are weak. But there is one who stands out above the rest. I can think of no post-Enlightenment historian who better captured why civilizations wither and die than Edward Gibbon.
His 1788 work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire describes the process of collapse well, using Rome as the example. I highly recommend this read, even if using the abridged versions.
Here is a brief summary:
Continue reading “Edward Gibbon: On The Seven Key Indicators of Civilizational Decline”
