Peter Heather, Professor of Medieval History at King's College, London and resident of Horton cum Studley, asks: ‘What can the fall of Rome teach us about the decline of the West today?’

 Over the last three centuries, the West rose to dominate the planet; around the turn of the millennium, it consumed a colossal 80% of world GDP.  Then history reversed.  Faced with economic stagnation and internal political division, the West has found itself in rapid decline: its share of GDP now under 60% and continuing to fall.  The Roman Empire followed a similar arc from dizzying power to disintegration – a fact that is far more than a strange historical coincidence. In his talk, Peter uses this Roman past, in some ways that would never have occurred to Edward Gibbon, to think about the contemporary West, its current state of crisis, and what the future might hold.

 The paperback version of the book, co-authored with political economist John Rapley, will be published on May 30th, and, if available by May 19th, advance copies will be available to buy at the price of £10: cash only.

This talk will only be in the pub.