Dr. Edward Watts interview cover image

Podcast 053: Dr. Edward Watts and “The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome”

by EW

Dr. Edward Watts makes his THIRD appearance on theEWpodcast to talk about his new book, “The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome: The History of a Dangerous Idea”.

Dr. Watts is the Chair of the History Department at University of California San Diego. He has previously written “Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell Into Tyranny”, “City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria” and more.

Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

**This episode was recorded on July 26, 2021**

DR. EDWARD WATTS LINKS
Dr. Edward Watts: https://history.ucsd.edu/people/faculty/watts.html
“The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome”: https://amzn.to/3mTQ7Gp
1st appearance on this podcast: https://ericwhte.com/podcast-031-dr-edward-watts-and-is-america-in-a-fall-of-rome-moment/
2nd appearance on this podcast: https://ericwhte.com/podcast-043-dr-edward-watts-and-what-rome-teaches-us-about-political-violence/

theEWpodcast
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/ericwhitestuff
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericwhte
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 “The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome”
05:43 The necessary tension between liberal and conservative
09:27 “Everything is bad and only I can fix it”
23:41 Why write this book now?
26:27 Distortions of Roman history and the Fall of Rome
37:00 Defining ‘Decline’
55:00 “There are rules for how problems are solved”
59:26 Closing thoughts