Work in progress
Published 10 April 2008
The New Rome: the Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America
Cullen Murphy
Icon Books, 272pp, £14.99
According to the author, recent US history – in particular the country's status as the world's only superpower – has fired a revival of the Roman empire in the American imagination, in which "Rome serves as either a grim cautionary tale or an inspirational call to action". In answer to his question "Are we Rome?", Murphy contends that both Rome and America are the most powerful actors in their respective worlds, are of similar size, see themselves as a chosen people, and revel in grandiose engineering – the space shuttle echoes the emperor Hadrian's vast sun-god statue.
Identifying lessons for the US in Rome's demise, Murphy examines the solipsism of the elites of Rome and Washington, the blindness of both to the outside world and the problems of managing such sprawling powers.
While Rome brought in the barbarians, today America hires private contractors – "not the Visigothi . . . but the Halliburtoni". Murphy is critical of the short-termist nature of both decisions. Concluding this thoughtful, sometimes whimsical book, he insists that America will survive precisely because it is America. The country will not ossify like Rome did, because "it is very consciously a constant work in progress".
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