Are We Rome?
Since its founding, America has been compared to Rome, says Cullen Murphy. “The reason it is on our minds today has to do with America’s power in the world and how we use it.” The former managing editor of the Atlantic Monthly and current editor-at-large at Vanity Fair who wrote Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America (Houghton Mifflin, 2007), devotes most of his talk to describing similarities and differences between the Roman Empire and the United States. He concludes by observing that such comparisons raise the larger question of whether there are lessons to be learned from history; and, if so, how we can learn them? Boston College historian Seth Jacobs and political scientist Timothy Crawford offer responses.
Presenter(s): Cullen Murphy
Date: October 16, 2007
Location: Murray Conference Room, Yawkey Athletic Center
Sponsor(s): Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics; Office of the Provost; Boston College Magazine
URL: http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/murphy/
The information on this page is accurate as of October 2007