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008 191104s2018 nyuab g b 001 0 eng c
010 $a2018018024
020 $a9780465093816 (hbk.) :$cUSD32
020 $z9780465093823 (ebook)
035 $a20567522
040 $aLBSOR/DLC$beng$cLBSOR$dTWTNM
042 $apcc
043 $ae------$aaw-----$aff-----
050 00$aDG254.2$b.W38 2018
082 00$a937/.05$223
100 1 $aWatts, Edward Jay,$d1975-
245 10$aMortal republic :$bhow Rome fell into tyranny /$cEdward J. Watts.
246 30$aHow Rome fell into tyranny
260 $aNew York :$bBasic Books,$c2018.
300 $a336 p. :$bill., maps ;$c25 cm.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505 0 $aAutocratic freedom -- The new world order -- Empire and inequality -- The politics of frustration -- The rise of the outsider -- The republic breaks -- Rebuilding amidst the wreckage -- The republic of the mediocre -- Stumbling towards dictatorship -- The birth and death of Caesar's republic -- The republic of Octavian -- Choosing Augustan liberty.
520 $a"In 22 BC, amid a series of natural disasters and political and economic crises, a mob locked Rome's senators into the Senate House and threatened to burn them alive if they did not make Augustus dictator. Why did Rome--to this day one of the world's longest-lived republics--exchange freedom for autocracy? Mortal Republic is a new history of the fall of the Roman Republic that explains why Rome made this trade. Prizewinning historian Edward J. Watts shows how, for centuries, Rome's governing institutions, parliamentary rules, and political customs succeeded in fostering compromise and negotiation. Even amid moments of crisis like Hannibal's invasion of Italy in the 210s BC, Rome's Republic proved remarkably resilient, and it continued to function well as Rome grow into the premier military and political power in the Mediterranean world. By the 130s BC, however, the old ways of government had grown inadequate in managing a massive standing army, regulating trade across the Mediterranean, and deciding what to do with enormous new revenues of money, land, and slaves. In subsequent decades, politicians increasingly misused Rome's consensus-building tools to pursue individual political and personal gain, and to obstruct urgently needed efforts to address growing social and economic inequality. Individuals--and Marius, Caesar and Cato, Augustus and Pompey--made selfish decisions that benefited them personally but irreparably damaged the health of the state. As the political center decayed, political fights evolved from arguments between politicians in representative assembles to violent confrontations between ordinary people in the street, setting the stage for the destructive civil wars of the first century BC--and ultimately for the Republic's end."--$cProvided by publisher.
651 0$aRome$xHistory$yRepublic, 265-30 B.C.
651 0$aRome$xPolitics and government$y265-30 B.C.