Cullen Murphy’s “Are we Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America” is a History book published in 2007. Murphy is an American editor and writer who is currently living in Massachusetts. He is known as unflappable editor due to his contributions for two decades towards the ‘Atlantic’, before moving to ‘Vanity Fair’ where he works there nowadays. He wrote a book on Bible and about women. He comes with a medieval history which made him write this book. The book is based upon a comparison between imperial Rome with America today. Murphy has summarized six parallels between Rome and America within a book of five chapters. He has taken a bold step by writing about the similarities and differences between two different states living in different times.
The book is a remarkable example of parlor game. It is based upon the reasons and background behind the fall of Roman Empire, and is written in a lively and provocative format in order to control interest of the readers regarding the comparison. According to a tradition, Rome was founded as a village in 753 B.C. after which it went through a continuous succession of rise and fall for 12 centuries. Later in fifth Century, the barbarians overwhelmed its gates when Rome was enjoying a peaceful and virtuous life but after that, the empire got corrupted. The author has written numerous comparisons (Pendle 2007).
The most important comparison states that both states have received same kind of blessing and affliction combined with a sense of exceptionalism. Similarly, there are commonalities like that mentioned in chapter 1, which include Capitoline Hill in Rome matching with the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Murphy has written about the continuous flow of grain into Rome and similarly matched the taxes flow going to Washington’s coffers. Both countries share their military bases in the North of England and in Iraq, which is the subject matter of chapter 2. American troops hold more power as compare to Roman legions but their problems are of the same level. The geographical distances.
Both states hold same power with respect to ideas, technology, culture, commerce and language, mentioned in chapter five. The countries welcome newcomers and immigrants as they are open societies. They share same level of ritually humiliating public occasions, litigious and having love-hate relation for nouveau riche. They celebrate same engineering feats too, which is mentioned in the lines, “Whenever I see the space shuttle, standing upright and inching slowly on its crawler toward the launching pad, I think back to the Rome of Hadrian’s day, and the gargantuan status of the Sun-God, as tall as the shuttle, being dragged into place by 24 elephants” (Murphy 200).
The number of dissimilarities are as much as the similarities U.S. is 300 years old whereas Roman Empire has lived for more than thousand years. The Roman Empire has lived within the Iron Age, America on contrary has a short history which already passed through Industrial to Information and Biotech age. America has a powerful continental economy, Rome lived a life of slavery with a city state. There was no concept of middle class in Rome, Americans on the other hand consider it as central social fact. Romans did not favor entrepreneurship and used to live on inherited wealth, Americans are independent people. Both have a power to conquer, America through indirect economic means, and Rome through aggressive expansion (Kamiya 2007).
Murphy has emphasized upon the strength of differences more than the commonalities. The writer has listed the friendly, idealistic and sentimental nature of Americans which is different from Romans as they were cruel, principled, arrogant and vulgar. Romans took self-esteem on top and they consider suicide as one of their options to pertain their dignity, whereas American have other strategies (Kamiya 2007).
There are six specific parallels between America and Rome. First, the sense of being the literal center of the world is present in Romans, the American political class goes through beltway grandeur and its delusions, which is increasing day by day. Secondly, the military and civilian societies are strangers to each other. “Most savages to look at frightening to listen to, and boorish to talk with” is an example of the situation. America is facing same issue of control over its enormous army (Kamiya 2007).
The third point is the rapid movement towards massive privatization, connecting its corruption, sins and societal degradation. Murphy considered this point to be most important because; Romans were not successful in its practice, whereas Americans hold strongest hands upon controlling private activities in the public world due to which a strong flow of corruption has entered its system. The writer has also pointed “suffragium” to be one of the reasons behind the decline of Rome. Fourth parallel between both countries is their ignorance from other nations. Fifth is their border issue, in which Rome dealt other countries by interactions instead of fights. The sixth parallel is the trick to control mega powers like America and Rome. He states that such countries have unpredictable patterns in their system due to ripple effects which create disturbances in environmental management. The book has offered an interesting bedtime read for history lovers. Author has done an extremely fine and in-depth work in order to derive nuanced lessons by casting provocative light on the contemporary writing patterns. He has openly mentioned the similarity between Rome and America, in the light of which, he has mentioned all of these discussed points. Although, historical facts are full of their history, he has not lost his focus upon the main goal of this book. He has been optimistic throughout (Kamiya 2007).
Hence, both states have a set of common features and trends due to which it is difficult to predict whether America holds same fate as Rome. Murphy has not answered this question, instead he has listed the sides in which Rome held a strong agricultural, portal, religious and cultural values. Further, Murphy has discussed the fall of Rome and with respect to the relation America and Rome. He has recommended certain political measures and optimistic notes. America needs to instill greater appreciation towards its citizenry in a friendlier manner and keep on moving ahead in making progress. As a statement towards personal analysis of the book, I found a very justified writing pattern in the book towards an important historical aspect of Roman Empire. Murphy has listed number of similarities between both countries, moreover the pitfalls in Roman Empire are also listed. It is because Americans hold same values and following similar footsteps as that of Romans. The situation holds chances of American downfall too, like Romans; in order to avoid same constitutional mistake, the author has given prescriptions and measures compulsory for American government and its people to flourish their state and build a strong nation.
Works Cited
Murphy, Cullen. Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. Print.
Kamiya, Gary. "“Are We Rome?”." Saloncom RSS. 7 Jan. 2007. Web. 18 Mar. 2016. <http://www.salon.com/2007/06/07/rome_6/>
Isaacson, Walter. "The Empire in the Mirror." The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 May 2007. Web. 18 Mar. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/books/review/Isaacson-t.html?_r=1>.
Pendle, George. "Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America - FT.com." Financial Times. 25 May 2007. Web. 18 Mar. 2016. <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7595cfb0-075d-11dc-80b9-000b5df10621.html>.
