The Falls of Rome: Crises, Resilience and Resurgence in Late Antiquity

The Falls of Rome: Crises, Resilience and Resurgence in Late Antiquity by Michele Renee Salzman, M.A. ’75, Ph.D. ’81, who chairs the history department at University of California-Riverside, offers a fresh interpretation of the tumultuous events that occurred in Rome during Late Antiquity.

Focusing on the resilience of successive generations of Roman men and women and their ability to reconstitute their city and society, Salzman demonstrates the central role that senatorial aristocracy played and the limited influence of the papacy during this period.

Her provocative study provides a new explanation for the longevity of Rome and its ability not merely to survive but even to thrive over the last three centuries of the Western Roman Empire. (Cambridge U Press)