The storm before the storm
The creator of the award-winning podcast series The History of Rome and Revolutions brings to life the bloody battles, political machinations, and human drama that set the stage for the fall of the Roman Republic. The Roman Republic was one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of civilization. Beginning as a small city-state in central Italy, Rome gradually expanded into a wider world filled with petty tyrants, barbarian chieftains, and despotic kings. Through the centuries, Rome's model of cooperative and participatory government remained remarkably durable and unmatched in the history of the ancient world. In 146 BC, Rome finally emerged as the strongest power in the Mediterranean. But the very success of the Republic proved to be its undoing. The republican system was unable to cope with the vast empire Rome now ruled: rising economic inequality disrupted traditional ways of life, endemic social and ethnic prejudice led to clashes over citizenship and voting rights, and rampant corruption and ruthless ambition sparked violent political clashes that cracked the once indestructible foundations of the Republic. Chronicling the years 146-78 BC, The Storm Before the Storm dives headlong into the first generation to face this treacherous new political environment.
Stats for nerds
18recommend
20mentions
19people
2017–2026years
95% recommend5% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Not OP but the book ”The storm before the storm” covers what sets in motion the fall of the republic. I think the foreword or opening chapter notes the similarities with the state of the US (Trumps first presidency at the time of writing).
The author is the podcast host of ”History of Rome”, which is also great, and he does the audiobook narration perfectly.
- Not OP. The Storm before the Storm, Mike Duncan.
- To avoid burying information, that's "The storm before the storm" (as the slug suggests), by Mike Duncan. I can second that someone who enjoyed SPQR is likely to enjoy this one.
- Check out the Storm before the Storm by Mike Duncan about the last hundred years leading up the the fall of the Roman Republic. The sequence of events and personalities that emerged were almost incomprehensible as being possible in real life. By the end of it, I couldn’t help but feel that Hollywood is dead (no movies could compare to what had unfolded in this period of time)… so much drama, tension, betrayal, reversal of fortunes, action, suspense etc had unfolded. Young Julius Caesar - and thus the entire direction of western civilization - was a whimsical decision away from being executed. Anyway that’s my hard sell, consider it.
- Surprised that nobody's mentioned Mike Duncan's Storm before the Storm[1] in this... The problems of the Republic go back a century before Caesar, at the very least.
Another series I really liked (it's a fictionalisation, but still) was Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome[2].
[1] https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/mike-duncan/the-st... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_of_Rome
- I've been reading the Foundation series, and it's quite good.
Aside from that:
"The New Right" by Michael Malice
"The Storm Before the Storm" by Mike Duncan
"The Anglo-American Establishment" by Carroll Quigley
"Numbers Don't Lie" by Vaclav Smil
Books that weren't good:
"A Short History of Man" by Hans-Herman Hopper
"The Singularity is Near" by Ray Kurzweil
"After Evangelicalism" by David P. Gushee
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