The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Rating:
Summary: Simply the best.
Review: What more need be said except, read the whole work. He was the master.

Rating:
Summary: Essential, Important, but over-rated
Review: You've got to read Gibbon, IMO, to be educated about separation of Church and State, about the history of ideas, and, as many have noted, about Roman and Christian history itself.

That said, I think Gibbon's gifts as a writer are over-rated.

This man DOES NOT get to the point, or tend to express an over-arching theme that he can point to with facts in an explicit way. Rather, he takes a roundabout view of things, and ferreting out the main point or theme is difficult amidst all the ancillary material presented. Gibbon would be a flop as a journalist, or as a corporate communicator today.

As a better example of history well-written, try the Pelican History of the World, by J. M. Roberts.

However, with that exception, Gibbon's style and wit are worthy of emulation.