The gripping story of how the end of the Roman Empire was the
beginning of the modern world
The fall of the Roman Empire has long been considered one of the
greatest disasters in history. But in this groundbreaking book, Walter
Scheidel argues that Rome's dramatic collapse was actually the best
thing that ever happened, clearing the path for Europe's economic rise
and the creation of the modern age. Ranging across the entire premodern
world, Escape from Rome offers new answers to some of the biggest
questions in history: Why did the Roman Empire appear? Why did nothing
like it ever return to Europe? And, above all, why did Europeans come to
dominate the world?
In an absorbing narrative that begins with ancient Rome but stretches
far beyond it, from Byzantium to China and from Genghis Khan to
Napoleon, Scheidel shows how the demise of Rome and the enduring failure
of empire-building on European soil ensured competitive fragmentation
between and within states. This rich diversity encouraged political,
economic, scientific, and technological breakthroughs that allowed
Europe to surge ahead while other parts of the world lagged behind,
burdened as they were by traditional empires and predatory regimes that
lived by conquest. It wasn't until Europe "escaped" from Rome that it
launched an economic transformation that changed the continent and
ultimately the world.
What has the Roman Empire ever done for us? Fall and go away.