Thursday, January 7, 2010

New Reading Project & New Infatuation

I'm now into a reading project centered on Late Antiquity. I didn't know the phrase existed until recently. Gibbon defined it as the era of the decline and fall of Rome; most know it as the Dark Ages. However, it seems that especially due to the researches and writing of Peter Brown, we now consider this era (c. 150-750) as Late Antiquity. I'll mention some of the titles that I've dipped into as a part of this project, but I think I may have a new author infatuation: Peter Brown. Commentators on this era all include Brown in their essential bibliographies, and a number mention his prose style. Well, I'm into his The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150-750 (1971), and the reputation seems well-deserved indeed. I'm thinking more and more of diving into his very highly regarded biography of St. Augustine, perhaps the key figure of Late Antiquity (at least in the West). Other good prospects waiting in line:

  1. Freeman, Charles, The
    Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason
  2. Dodds, E.R., Pagan & Christian in an Age of Anxiety
  3. Galsworthy, Adrian How Rome Fell
  4. O'Donnell, James, The Ruin of the Roman Empire: A New History
  5. More Brown

Suggestions?

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