The book is Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny by Edward J. Watts

I became interested in Mortal Republic because the founding fathers of the United States had many of the ideas of the Roman Republic in mind when they wrote the Constitution. I would like to thank Netgalley for the chance to read this.  This is a paperback edition of a book published about 2 years ago.

It is not only a history of the rise of the republic but of the republic’s decline into tyranny.  The early Romans were honorable men.  Reputation was more important than riches.  And so when the politicians of ancient Rome dealt with other powers they were incorruptible.  All was for the good of Rome and personal gain did not enter into it.

In some ways, that reminded me of the men who wrote our Constitution.  Efforts were for the good of the country and not personal gain.  They could imagine the occasional dishonorable man in government and included various checks and balances to limit the damage a dishonorable or corrupt person could cause. I think they could not imagine a government so full of dishonorable men that their checks and balances would not work.

The end of the Roman Republic came about with rising inequality resulting in a populist movement that was exploited by politicians. The parallels to the current situation in the United States and elsewhere are obvious to me.

I enjoyed much of this book. In some places the history was more detailed than I liked. If you think this book might be of interest, I would  suggest reading some of the many review on Amazon (just click on the picture above).