The Decline and Fall deserves its reputation
Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is an astonishing work. It is beautifully written, and Bernard Mayes's presentation is stunning. Having said this I must add that getting through the entire epic takes faith and commitment. Pu simply, the work is long. It is so very much worth the effort, though. Gibbon's style is not that of a modern historian. More than recounting history (say, for a general student), he tells a story -- or rather a long set of stories. His stories start in the first century CE and finish at the end of the fifteenth. The Roman Empire plays a central role, of course, but Gibbon takes extended trips not only around the Mediterranean world, but through Central Asia, China, Britain, and all of continental Europe. Perhaps paradoxically (in view of the work's reputation as an historical epic), it helps to be already familiar with some of the essentials of the history of Imperial Rome and the Middle Ages. Gibbon presents a mountain (perhaps a range of mountains) of historical facts (and perhaps the occasional legend), and sometimes his connections among the multifarious facts can be of the "stream-of-consciousness" variety; it can be difficult to keep the characters and events in order. This is a truly superb book, and Mayes delivers a fabulous performance.